Where His Heart Lies
by Jenova Virus
Summary: Nina is a young teenager trying to fit into a new school in a new country. Just when she is starting to make some friends she gets abducted and is being held captive in Hueco Mundo but the thing is she is allowed to continue a normal life going to school. Another story I wrote years ago.
1. Chapter 1

Being a teenager is hard, especially in today's society. One would say that these days life is a lot easier than it was 50 years ago but teenagers still have their own share of problems. They are required to work, go to school, and do homework. Did I mention the pressure of fitting in? And PEER PRESSURE? All teenagers want is to be normal and accepted by others. They are just starting to get settled into their aging bodies when hormones take over and screw up their mind so they can't think with good logic and their parents yell at them saying how their decision was wrong and now they have to be punished. Do parents even remember what it's like to be a teen with the pressures of everyday life on their shoulders? What if one had no parents to love or yell at them, all they had was an older brother that is hardly around to give a crap. To make it even harder, imagine that you have no friends at all and are starting your first day at a new school. Everyone's face is new to you, would you be nervous? Imagine your life living at home practically alone, attending a new school, not knowing a soul. How would you deal with it?

Karakura high is a place that many ordinary teenagers attend with the regular jocks, preps, emos, geeks and even the odd lesbian or two attend. Average school with an average class size but this is all new to one who has never been to school before.

Nina had her nose stuck in a paper layout of the high school that a secretary from the head office gave her. Class hasn't even begun and the pressure of being at a new school was starting to get to her but she tried to keep calm by focusing on the map and just finding her way to the right class room. It would be much easier if the halls were less empty but what can you expect on the first day back from summer vacation. Kids were everywhere scrambling to find their class room; one bumped Nina from behind startling her causing her to jump. The paper flew out of her hand and got lost in the heard of people. Nina just sighed and headed towards where she thought her class was next thing she knew the bell just rang and the halls began to get less empty. Not wanting to be the only one in the hall, she walked into the nearest class room and plunked herself down at a desk in the back hoping that no one would notice if she was in the wrong class.

"Good morning class!" The teacher said ecstatically. Most of the class groaned but there was one orange haired girl who sat in the front who immediately responded with a joyful 'good morning' back. Probably some teachers pet. Nina rested her head on her fist and looked around at all the faces that she was going to have to get used to. Let's see, there was miss bubbly in the front, four eyes beside her, a tank towering over him, wait a minute... Is that a boy or a girl beside him? Must be a girl since it's in a skirt. And carrot top. Ewwwwww, who's that weird brown hair guy? He looks like a creep. Everyone else just looks the same. "Welcome to Karakura high. I'm Miss Ochi. The only reason I say that is because I see a new student with us this year. Why don't you come on up and introduce yourself." Nina's heart stopped for a moment when she realized the teacher was talking to her. She couldn't bring herself to walk up to the front of the class so she just stood where she was and held onto her chair to keep her from losing her balance. The whole class faced her and it seemed like they stared holes through her.

"I'm um, Nina." Was all she said.

"And where have you come from?" The teacher kindly questioned.

"N-North America."

"Wow that's a long ways to come."

"Yeah..." Nina said sitting down and rolling her eyes.

"Well welcome to Karakura Town Nina. We hope you enjoy your stay." The teacher finished and Nina sighed once she looked away out the side window in the far back. Nina began day dreaming, she had a problem with it back when she was a child, and sitting by the window didn't help. Something about being by a window increased her odds of daydreaming it was bad enough without it. This at least helped time go by a little quicker. Nina turned her head to look at the clock once, 10:00 o'clock. Half an hour and then came the first break. Not too much longer. Nina subconsciously looked back outside and noticed something. Why was there some one floating? No not floating, the movement was to jerky for that, it was more like they were just being thrown around. But nothing else was there. Looking closer, the look on the person's face was not one of pleasure but of fright. Something had to have been aggravating it but that's impossible, no one else was there.

"Can I go to the washroom?" Nina unnecessarily half shouted above everything else drawing all eyes on her.

"Can't you wait half an hour, Nina?" The teacher asked. Nina shook her head and the teacher sighed. "Fine, go ahead but be quick." Nina took no time at all and ran out of the class room and down the nearest set of stairs. Something was really weird outside and she was going to find out if it killed her. When she flung the doors open she could definitely make out a giant figure that was tossing the poor girl around. She couldn't tell what the heck it was, it was more like a blur of movement from what it was standing in front of.

"Help! Help me!" The victim cried.

"Hey what's going on?" Nina ran up to the girl.

"Something's attacking me!" Nina shifted her head from one side to the other to keep contact with the girl. An unseen foot came crashing down next to Nina leaving a gigantic foot print beside her and a large boom followed by her screaming. Nina tried to fight whatever was there off with her fists but it was no use fighting something that you couldn't see but a glimmer of hope came through when Nina felt something.

"Hey I think I felt something." She half cheered.

"Why are you throwing around punches like you're blind, can't you see it."

"Um, not really." She said in a sarcastic voice. An unseen tail lifted Nina off of the ground and swung her around in the air as if she were almost weightless. "Crap!" Nina shouted while being tossed into a brick wall. Nina heard the girl scream again just before disappearing into something that looked like a mouth and started panicking. She finally decided that she had had enough so she bit into the beast's tail. Once her teeth made deep contact, she could see the monster for what it fully was. It had a white mask like thing and the rest of its body was all hairy, it looked like a giant mole with a fish skull on it for a head. The monster screamed a piercing scream and tossed Nina into the same brick wall, this time she fell about a story fall before hitting the ground. "My vision's... fading." Just before she closed her eyes, she saw a blur of black running and probably attacking the monster that had just thrown Nina. Soon her vision was all black.


	2. Chapter 2

Nina opened her eyes and discovered herself lying in an unfamiliar place. She looked around and seen basic medical stuff on the counter and in open cupboards. Bandages, cotton swab, rubbing alcohol and miscellaneous piled in the room. It was a rather dull room painted a dull white with small cracks on the walls and grey slate flooring. Ceiling tiles were easy to count because there weren't very many of them. A woman dressed in a nurse's outfit came through the door with a smile and stood beside Nina.

"Hi there you're in the school's medical room." She smiled. No wonder this place wasn't familiar. Nina new nothing about this new school that she was attending and already she had to take a trip to the medical room, it seems like she can't go a week without hurting herself somehow that it may need attention from someone.

"Why am I here?" Nina asked lifting her head.

"Oh, Ichigo Kurosaki found you unconscious outside and was nice enough to bring you in." Ichigo, who's he? "Now I need to do a few more tests, you may have had a concussion." The nurse waved a small flashlight in Nina's eyes to test her sights reaction to the light then she snapped her fingers next to each of Nina's ears. "All is well, you are free to go. Don't do anything to crazy, just take your time and rest."

"Ok." Nina thanked before getting off of the bed. She had to put her hand on something and wait for the spinning in her head to stop before she walked away. A few moments later, she walked over to the door, opened it up then closed it behind her.

"So you're awake." A male voice said making Nina scream. The boy chuckled a bit.

"Are you..."

"Ichigo Kurosaki." He paused for a moment and Nina had a slightly confused look spread across her face. He stopped leaning against the wall and stood perfectly upwards. "We're in the same home room." He said making all the more sense to Nina and she mouthed the word oh. "Sorry you must be confused after getting hit on the head so hard like that."

"Just a little." Nina smiled nervously then she bowed slightly and began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going? I can't just let you walk away after having a concussion like that one. C'mon, you can come hang out with me and my friends." He said gesturing with his hands. She followed close behind him and he led her to the roof of the school. There stood, miss bubbly, four eyes, the girl she had mistaken for a guy, the tank and the brown haired over energetic freak show. Most of them sat on the ground in the formation of a circle but the tank was standing up.

"Hi Ichigo!" Miss bubbly cheerfully waved. "Oh, who's that with you?"

"This is the new girl Nina." Ichigo introduced.

"I have a name." Nina thought to herself irritated after parking herself on the ground just far enough away from everyone to be comfortable but still close enough to be in with everyone.

"Hi there, I'm Orihime." Miss bubbly immediately responded. "And this is Tatsuki." She said pulling the boy girl closer to her. Tatsuki just waved.

"I'm Keigo. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." The over energized boy half shouted in a really annoying voice.

"Uryuu Ishida." Four eyes said pushing up his glasses.

"Sado Yasutora. But you can call me Chad." The tank said in an almost shockingly low voice.

"You said you came from North America, why have you come from there?" Orihime asked.

"My brother got a job offer here and he took it."

"Sounds like it must have been a good offer to come all the way from North America to here." Uryuu said.

"He definitely has a lot of hours to work though since he's got this new job."

"What does he do?" Chad asked.

"I'm not entirely sure but I do know that he works for the Japanese government."

"Don't you have to be a Japanese citizen in order to do something like that?" Uryuu thought out loud folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes, he was born here in Japan making him a citizen and he never got any citizen ship when we were in North America so he remained apart of Japan. I on the other hand was born over there so I am not rightfully a Japanese citizen."

"Wow, I didn't know that about you." Orihime jumped.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Nina thought inside her head.

"Do you think that you will want to become a Japanese citizen?" Orihime asked and Nina quickly shook her head.

"Why not?!" Everyone almost jumped up when asking.

"This place aint so bad." Ichigo said aside from everyone.

"Why would you not want to live here?" Keigo yelled annoyingly.

"Because I don't like it here."

"That's not a good enough answer. You're supposed to say why you don't like it here! You can't just leave me hangin' like that, c'mon it's not cool." Keigo ranted then Ichigo elbowed him on top of his head to make him shut up.

"It's just not home." Nina looked down on the cement to avoid eye contact with everyone.

"That's okay, you'll make good friends here and then you will fit in and then this will feel like your new home in no time." Orihime said floating over to pat Nina on the back. Nina smiled nervously not really believing that she will fit in and make new friends.

"Well whatever happens, we got your back Nina. You can hang out with us whenever you want." Ichigo smiled making Nina feel better.

"Thanks guys." She said shyly. The school bell rang on cue for everyone to go back to class. Ichigo was the first to stand up followed by Chad who was leaning against some fencing then Orihime.

"Come on guys, we don't want to be late on our first day." Ichigo said and everyone else agreed except for Keigo who started going off about how he needs to keep up his slacker reputation. Nina quickly got up so that she wouldn't be left behind but her vision went all blurry and started to go black. She caught their ears as she fell back against the fencing and made a chain link rustling sound.

"Are you alright?" Orihime ran over and helped Nina up.

"Take it easy Nina, you shouldn't get up too fast." Ichigo said.

"Oh it's nothing, just got a bit of a head rush nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah well don't push yourself. You got yourself knocked out pretty bad there." Ichigo added.

"Do you think it was a..." Orihime began.

"Yeah." Ichigo nodded cutting Orihime off.

"A what?" Keigo turned around to face them.

"Nothing."

"A what! Come on you gotta tell me."

"We're just messing with you Keigo." Ichigo said in a serious tone throwing his bag over his shoulders and walked past him to class and everyone followed him leaving him behind.

"Hey don't leave without me!"


	3. Chapter 3

"What was that thing?" Nina wondered as she walked the streets after school was finished. She remembered that she couldn't really see what it was until she bit her teeth into it then after that it was so clear that she realized how horrifying it really was. She distinctively remembered it had a white mask almost like a fish skull and it ruined sushi for her for life.

"Do you think it was a..." She remembered Orihime asking this to Ichigo and he responded with a 'yeah'. She wondered if they knew what had attacked her then. What scared her most about it is that it ate a woman so it obviously was dangerous. The pedestrian light flashed signalling for Nina to cross the cross walk then she went in to a convenience store/diner as a part of her usual routine. She walked up to the register to place her order and waited for a certain friend of hers to come out.

"Oh, Nina. What a pleasant surprise." A dark haired boy rose from below the counters and spoke in a kind voice. He had raven hair tied back into a low ponytail as he worked and had a very delicate vibe to him as he shyly smiled there. Nina smiled back relieved.

"Hey Hanataro." She acknowledged.

"How was your first day of school today?"

"It was hard but I met some nice people."

"What can I get for you?" Hanataro asked readying his hands by the register.

"I'll have the usual." She smiled with her tongue out.

"Alright. One strawberry milkshake coming up. I'm going on my break after so I'll come join you at a table."

"Okay." Nina said walking over to the table that she usually sits at. It didn't take very long before Hanataro came out with a large strawberry milkshake and he placed it on the table in front of Nina then he hung his apron over the seat that he sat at. Nina took a single sip of her milkshake and closed her eyes with satisfaction. "Mm, you really know how to make a milkshake Hanataro." She said relaxing from the drink. He laughed.

"It's the extra strawberries I put in there for you. We're not supposed to put more than a half cup strawberries in one blender but I always do a little more for you." He smiled. Nina smiled back before looking into her cup and mixing the whipping cream into the shake while resting her head on her hand. Hanataro could easily tell that something was on her mind from the beginning but he brought himself to speak up.

"Is something the matter? D-Did I not put enough whipping cream on it?" He asked trying to help her feel better.

"No it's fine, it's just that I got hurt again." Nina said quietly even though there was no one in the store but them.

"You gotta stop doing that!" Hanataro spoke up a little.

"Hm?"

"It's not good to hurt yourself and I get worried sometimes wondering if you're alright. I won't always be there to help you Nina. You should try to be more careful." Hanataro spoke really worried

"It's not like I can help it. This time I was attacked by a monster."

"Uh, monster?"

"Yeah, it had a furry body and a white mask. I couldn't see it at first and then I bit it to try to get away then I seen it so clearly that it ruined sushi for me from its large fish head thingy."

"Oh." Hanataro went silent.

"Oh? Do you know what it was that attacked me?"

"Uh..."

"Please you gotta tell me. I heard someone say that they think that they knew what it was but I couldn't figure out what it was. I really want to know." Nina said slightly standing up getting all worked up.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you there." He half whispered. Nina sat back down in her chair after a moment of silence. "I wish I could help you but I just can't."

"Oh, that's okay. I know if you did know that you would tell me." Nina said and Hanataro laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head.

"Y-yeah, that's for sure." He answered watching Nina gulp down her shake.

"Hanataro?" Nina quietly said.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you come to school with me?" Nina asked sadly looking in his eyes.

"I have to work. I would go to school with you but unfortunately I have a lot of hours here during the day so the only time I really get off is a couple hours after your school ends and by then, it's too late. Are you really having a difficult time there?" Hanataro said beginning to get all worked up from worrying about Nina. She gulped down the rest of her shake then pushed it aside. She gave an unconvincing smile.

"I just don't feel like I belong there."

"Why would you say that?"

"I don't know. Maybe I just haven't given it enough time. Don't worry about me. I'll manage." Nina said getting up. Hanataro grabbed the empty cup then got up as well.

"I gotta get back to work. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your next visit." Hanataro bowed then went to the back. Nina placed her payment plus a tip on the table then she left. Hanataro came back to wipe down the table but stopped and smiled while looking at Nina's generous tip.

Nina smiled while hurrying home. She liked to be with Hanataro. Something about him made her relax and feel like her worries weren't a problem. Nina recollected when she first moved to Karakura town near the beginning of summer she was dying to run out of her house because she hated it so much and she just so happened to go into that shop and met him working there. The very thing that she ordered was a strawberry milkshake and she has forever been hooked on it. Since then she had been going back every Friday maybe even another time in the week to have a shake and Hanataro had been there most of the time and she had developed a strong friendship with him during the months of summer break, now she liked to leave him big tips, bigger than most anyone would pay. The average person leaves approximately 10-15% on tip if they liked their server but Nina always gave 30%+ depending on how much change she had in her pocket. Hanataro even paid for Nina's beverage every now and then because he appreciated her company so much.


	4. Chapter 4

"Pay attention everyone. The transfer student that I told you about is here." The teacher said. "Why don't you introduce yourself?" The new student stood in front of the class comfortably and told everyone the symbolism of his name. He was kind of weird looking. He had a blonde bowl cut that was normally hated by many but it was longer than most making it look a little better than usual.

"Shinji Hirako." He said proudly bowing to it as well. "Very nice to meet you."

"Hey Shinji, it's the other way around." The Teacher noticed while looking at the black board. Nina as well as the rest of the class couldn't help but chuckle and Shinji's joke.

"It's a really good trick isn't it. Backward writing is a very unusual skill of mine." He smiled weirdly while waving up his writing hand.

"So that's what you were up to. Now, where will we have you sit?"

"Oh Miss Ochi?"

"What?" The teacher said almost impatiently.

"I'd like to sit next to a cute girl."

"A cute girl?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, I think we'd better have you sit there." She pointed to a spot next to Ichigo but behind Nina Chad was on his left and Uryuu was just one seat below Chad making it a mostly boy zone except for Nina.

"Okay!" He sang making everyone laugh but Ichigo. He almost danced over to his seat and he winked at Nina just before he walked past her and pulled out his chair he then turned to Ichigo with a big teeth bearing smile. "Looks like you and I are going to be neighbours." Ichigo half gasped as Shinji sat down. "Yeah, I hope we can be friends... Ichigo." Something in his voice sounded like it was a little sarcastic. Nina raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure thing." Was all Ichigo said. Shinji chuckled as his smile pulled up even more. Miss Ochi started her lesson plan and turned her back on the class to write on her chalk board.

"Hey there cutie." Shinji said leaning forward near Nina's ear. This caused her to shiver then blush. "Looks like we're going to be sitting by each other." Without thinking, Nina fiercely lifted her hand punching Shinji on the nose with the back of her fist. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Shinji, are you already causing trouble?" Miss Ochi turned around from the chalkboard finding that Shinji was cupping his hands over a bleeding nose.

"Um, no it was nothing. I'll be right back." Shinji said getting up then running to the bathroom. Some of the class laughed but Nina sunk down in her chair trying to camouflage herself from everyone.

At lunch, Nina was the first to sit down of her supposedly called friends and really felt bad for punching Shinji on the nose. She didn't mean it. It was like something got to her and made her do it. Nina looked up from her food and seen Shinji walking into the cafeteria with a large deluxe lunch bag that looked as if it could pack a meal for a small family. He sure must eat a lot. Nina was trying to avoid eye contact with Shinji since he was coming right her way and he sat down beside her at the lunch table.

"Hey there cutie." He smiled his usual teeth bearing smile. "That sure was an unexpected punch from such a cute girl."

"I have a name." Nina's voice rose.

"I'm sorry. How very rude of me. What is your name there girlie?" He said in a playfully mocking tone.

"It's Nina."

"Nina. That's a cute name. Suits you just fine." Shinji said and Nina almost blew a fuse. "I hope we can be friends."

"Why are you like this?" Nina loudly questioned almost slamming her juice box on the table.

"Oh, come on. I'm just playing with ya. No harm in it."

"But you're bothering me."

"I didn't mean to. You sure get annoyed easily don't you there princess?"

"Gah! I can't take it anymore." Nina shouted "get away from me." She yelled running out the door.

"I'm just playing with—Hey! Where are you going? Nina come back here!" Shinji shouted running after Nina. He followed her out the door and chased her down the hallway. "Cutie, I mean Nina, wait up!"

"No!" She yelled in between heavy breaths taken. "You're creepy." Shinji paid little attention to what Nina was saying he just continued to run after her until she stopped.

"Why am I so creepy? Is it something I said?"

"Yeah, you, you're hair, your tongue piercing, you're just creepy in general!" Nina yelled continuing to run down the halls of the school. The end was in sight and the only thing slowing them down was a large metal door Nina tried to fling open as quick as possible then she shut it almost on Shinji's nose. He stepped back a little before it hit him then he opened it up. By the time Shinji opened the door, Nina had disappeared out of his sight. He looked all across the field holding his hand up to his eyes to keep the sunlight out of it.

"Nina! Where are you my sweet?!" He shouted so that almost everyone in the school yard could here. Nina madly blushed while panting up in a tree where she decided to hide. Shinji trotted from one side of the field to the other, Nina's heart beat picked up when he neared her tree then left again. She was so busy focusing on Shinji that she didn't notice Ichigo was starring up into the tree at her.

"Hey, Nina. I didn't see you at lunch today. Where were you?" Ichigo waved. Nina lift up one shaken finger and pointed it towards the maniac.

"The guy with the really bad bowl cut is after me!" She said, Ichigo turned around to try to see who it was who was after her.

"Aha! There you are!" Shinji pointed up into the tree from across the pavement then he almost sprinted over. Nina hugged the coarse trunk of the tree as the creeper ran towards her. Ichigo stepped in the way causing Shinji to fall over from bumping into his hard body.

"What's the big idea?" Ichigo questioned while looking at Shinji with cold eyes.

"Er, uh, nothing. I just wanted to see my sweet Nina. Got a problem... Ichigo?" Shinji said Ichigo's name just like he did in the class room. He said it as if he knew something about him that nobody else knew, like he had a dirty secret and if he did one thing wrong, Shinji would spill it and he had the same smile on his face, it was almost... evil... no, scheming. The look on Ichigo's face showed that he was uncomfortable when Shinji addressed him like that so he just lifted his eyebrow to try to hide it. Shinji stood up then patted the dirt off of his clothes. "Fine, I can see I'm not wanted here. See you in class Nina." Nina watched Shinji's back as he walked away back into the building since he never had a chance to have lunch. Ichigo turned back to Nina.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Man, why do I have to sit in front of that guy?" Nina said and Ichigo just chuckled.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This chapter contains minor spoilers to the canon, read at your own risk.**

Nina walked down through a park headed over to the grocery store to stock up on some food for her house humming her way there and skipping every other step that she took. Going through the park was a slightly longer rout but it had much better scenery than the crowded streets on a busy Friday afternoon. Everyone was out of school and was beginning to take over the streets in large groups but Nina was smart enough to go through the park today. So far there weren't any people around, in fact, that was very unusual for such a bright sunny day. Normally there were people here too, bikers on their bikes, people walking their dogs or just people going on a stroll but there was no one which seemed very odd to Nina but nevertheless she enjoyed it. She came around a corner and seen a bunch of people gathered around what seemed like a crater. It looked so big that a meteor could have caused this but she heard people saying that nothing was there.

"What happened here?" A voice in the distance asked.

"I dunno, some sort of explosion but nothings there." Another answered. Nina kept her distance behind a wide trunked tree not wanting to be a part of the commotion. The explosion must have been so loud to draw everyone in the park over there to see it. Nina's eyes widened when she seen a huge figure come out of the pit. It was the figure of a frightfully well built human wearing white robes and had some sort of white mask just on his chin that looked like a jaw. He had orange eyebrows and black hair tied back into a low ponytail and thick sideburns. Chills went down Nina's spine as she seen a hole that went all the way through in the middle of his chest.

"Looks like nothings there." People said.

"What do you mean nothing's there? Can't you see it?" Nina thought to herself. "It's huge." The beast turned to face the majority of the crowd.

"Why are you all looking at me?" He spoke with a powerful voice. "Stop looking at me or I'll kill every last one of ya." Nina ducked lower behind the tree trunk and watched what he was going to do. Unexpectedly, the beast took in a humungous breath causing everyone who was around them to scream before they collapsed and some sort of blue flame came out of everyone's body and went into the mouth of the monster. It even took out souls from people across the town, Nina could even feel the monsters breath tug at her own chest but it was not enough to make her fall down. "Bleh, awful taste."

"Well what did you expect Yammy, weak souls like those will always taste nasty." A monotone voice said. Another figure just stepped out of the hole and stood next to the beast. Something about this one made Nina gasp with a hand over her mouth. Those eyes, Nina could not take her eyes off of them. They were a gorgeous emerald green with a cat's eye slit as pupils. They shone in the sunlight like a jewel under the perfect lighting. She studied the figure, it was human but it was also so different. His skin was very pale that there was no pink to it whatsoever, it was a very light shade of grey, almost as light as the white cloak that he wore. This one also had a mask as well but it was in the shape of an exotic helmet that rested at the left half of his head on top of a messy head of raven hair. Nina moved her eyes back to his and followed his teal 'tear' lines down his cheeks. Looking into his eyes, he almost looked like he was frowning, but his eyes were so beautiful, she couldn't help herself to go back to them. She listened to his voice as he spoke, not focusing on the words he said but the smooth tone it gave off. Every time he spoke, it made a chill run up and down her back. His head stood moderately stationary to his body as he turned around prospecting the area around him; Nina's heart paused then sped up when he faced her direction looking at her straight in the eyes effortlessly piercing through her ocean blue ones. His partner continued to gabble on but neither of them heard anything as their eyes were locked together for what felt like an oversized portion of forever. Nina made the mistake of unconsciously placing her foot back on a brittle twig making an unexpected snap and accidentally forcing herself to look behind her. Suddenly, the man moved faster than the blink of an eye from at least 15 metres then appeared behind her and he took her arm and pushed it against the tree behind her and held it there. She looked back into his eyes panicking about what he was going to do but instead he just spoke to her. "How are you able to do that?"

"W-what?" Nina shook.

"You should have lost your soul." He said.

"I... don't understand... Who are you?"

"Are you going to answer the question or am I going to have to force it out of you?" He said holding up a finger near the bottom of her throat. Something at the tip of his finger began to light up into a forest green ball, it gave off a lot of heat and made Nina feel as if her throat were being torn off just from it being held so close to her. She tried to tell him that she didn't know what he was talking about but she couldn't move from the pain and fear.

"Hey Ulquiorra!" Yammy shouted. Ulquiorra took a second before drawing back his attack and dropping her to the ground. Yammy came around the tree and seen Nina on her knees. "Is she the one? If she's alive then she must be the one."

"Why are you here?" She whimpered holding her wrist lightly that had been squeezed by Ulquiorra.

"You need to work on your deductive skills Yammy. You're slowing me down." He said not taking his eyes off Nina.

"So... she's not the one?" Yammy asked confused.

"Idiot." Ulquiorra said under his breath then he looked back to Nina. "You are a very interesting human. You don't easily lose your soul like most trash."

"What? She resisted my attack?" Yammy perked up.

"Without any problem. You aren't even conscious as to how you did it." Ulquiorra stated and Nina nodded slowly. "You have very little spiritual pressure and yet you are able to still be alive. Lord Aizen could benefit from studying someone like you." Nina frowned at the thought of who this "lord Aizen" could be and what he would do with her.

"Who the h*** are you?" A familiar voice firmly asked. As Ulquiorra and Yammy turned around to see who was interrupting them, Nina seen Ichigo in a black robe resting a giant sword on his back with one arm at the handle.

"Ichigo?" Nina said surprised. He pulled out his sword and pointed it towards Ulquiorra.

"Let her go!"

"You've finally showed up." Ulquiorra said calmly.

"He must be the one. Am I right Ulquiorra?" Yammy smirked. Ulquiorra did not take his eyes off of Ichigo as he asked the question.

"He's the one." Ulquiorra looked Ichigo from top to bottom before making his command. "Kill him, Yammy." Yammy wasted no time and began his play with Ichigo. Ichigo transformed himself and suddenly had a thin black sword rather than the gigantic one he started out with and a different black robe. Yammy threw his fist towards Ichigo but he easily stopped it with a thin sword. Ulquiorra shifted his eyes from Ichigo and Yammy's fight down to Nina who was still on her knees. His eyes examined her confused look on her face as she paid no attention to him.

"Don't you dare hurt my friend." Ichigo shouted just before he cut off Yammy's right arm. Yammy screamed then stepped back holding his hand where his arm once was trying to stop the pain somehow.

"D*** you little runt!" Yammy shouted. Ichigo rested his sword on his shoulder.

"I'm surprised that you can stand there and call me names. I guess that you are as tough as you are ugly." He mocked. Yammy growled and was forced to pull out his sword. Nina gasped as she seen the blade come out of its sheath.

"I can't believe that you need you're Zanpakuto for a runt like this." Ulquiorra said and Yammy growled. Ichigo looked at the sword and had a confused look on his face as well then he suddenly fell to his knees and placed a hand on the right side of his face.

"Ichigo." Nina shouted reaching out to him. Ichigo looked over to Nina and tried to get up but every time he tried, Yammy knocked him back down repetitively. Yammy changed around and knocked Ichigo up to his feet then punched each of his cheeks alternatively with his one arm causing a mixture of spit and blood to come out of his mouth. "Ichigo!" Nina shouted as Yammy grabbed a hold of Ichigo's head and laughed.

"Looks like he can't fight anymore." Yammy laughed. Ichigo's vision began to fade as he looked back at Nina. Yammy threw Ichigo on the ground like he was nothing. "I'm done messing around." Nina's eyes shook as she helplessly watched Ichigo struggle but then she decided that she would do what she could to help Ichigo.

"Stop hurting him." She shouted punching Yammy as hard as she could but Yammy just swatted her away like she was a fly. She skidded back a ways before stopping, thankfully she wasn't badly hurt so she stubbornly tried again only to get the same result only this time was slightly harder.

"Foolish girl, no matter how many times you try, you will only meet the same fate." Ulquiorra thought as Nina went back a third time.

"N-Nina, don't do it." Ichigo struggled to say. Nina was on the ground once again wiping saliva off of her cheek then looked up noticing Yammy walking towards her. Ichigo leaned on his sword to try to get up but he only fell back down. Nina was grabbed by her throat then thrown against the tree where Ulquiorra stood near to and got knocked out as she slid down the trunk. "Nina!" Yammy walked over to Ichigo and raised his arm again.

"Time for you to disappear." He shouted just before launching his arm at Ichigo. Ichigo half expected to be dead but when he looked up, Yammy's fist had been stopped by a red shield. "What the?"


	6. Chapter 6

When Nina woke up, she found herself lying on a mattress on the floor with a thin blanket over her in an unfamiliar room. The room seemed to be built a while ago since the floor was a tatami flooring and the walls were basic screen design. Not very many buildings had these features to them anymore, mainly the older buildings or shrines used these. The door was a single sliding door and there was no windows to tell whether it was night or day outside. Nina groaned as she tried to lay on a side rather than her back but a sharp pain prevented her instead she took off the covers to find that her torso had been wrapped in bandages. Soft footsteps started down a hallway and began to grow louder and louder but eventually they stopped. Nina looked at the crack at the bottom of the door and could barely make out a shadow waiting behind the door so she braced herself for whoever it may be. As expected, someone came through the door, a man dressed in a hat and clogs clanked towards her but what was really unexpected was that there were three stuffed animals walking in front of him and came into the room before he did. Nina screamed when she seen the plushies coming for her.

"Hello there." The man said in a very friendly tone tipping his hat a bit. Nina waited for an explanation of everything; what she was doing there, who he was and why the heck there were three moving stuffed toys but he seemed to be avoiding the explanation for some reason.

"Well what am I doing here?" Nina asked in a serious tone after a few awkward seconds.

"Good I thought you'd never ask!" The man smirked behind a fan that he pulled out in front of his mouth and said in an excited voice. Nina could tell that this man was hardly ever serious by his first impression that he gave her and the fact that he seemed to enjoy making her wait to ask an obvious question. "You must be wondering who brought you here and the correct answer is Ichigo."

"Ichigo brought me here?" Nina blinked.

"That's right. He was off protecting you from the arrancars but apparently you got hurt so he brought you over here instead of the hospital since it would be difficult to explain the circumstances that injured you." He said in a more serious tone.

"Arrancars?" Nina wondered. "Is he okay."

"Yeah, a few cuts and bruises but nothing serious."

"Where is he?"

"He's at his house resting." He said and there was another moment of silence then the man twirled around his cane a few times then held it normally. "My goodness, where are my manners. I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Kisuke Urahara, owner of the Urahara shop, and these are three friendly stuffed animals; Noba, Kurodo and Lirin."

"Hi there." The chick animal greeted in a child's voice.

"A pleasure to meet you." A rabbit like one said.

"Greetings." A surprisingly low voice came out of the turtle wearing a tuxedo. Nina just stared at them confused and said nothing back to them.

"You must be wondering about a lot of things that just happened to you am I right?" Kisuke Urahara asked sitting down next to her on the floor. Nina nodded once. "Lirin, Noba, Kurodo, could you go fetch us some tea."

"Right away sir." Kurodo and Lirin said.

"Sure thing." Noba said. The three of then walked out of the room and out of sight but their squeaky footsteps could be heard as they went farther down the hall.

"Do you think that you could tell me... what's been happening to me." Nina slowly asked clutching her sheet harder. She kept her eyes down and Urahara's smile faded into a very serious face.

"I can answer... almost everything." He confessed in a low voice bowing his head. "Ichigo, is a soul reaper." Nina quickly lifted her head. "Actually, he's a substitute soul reaper to be exact."

"What's a soul reaper?"

"A soul reaper is a being from the Soul Society. When one dies and has no regrets, their spirit passes on to the Soul Society becoming a being up there and forgetting everything about their life here. Some of those beings go to the great soul academy to become soul reapers. A soul reapers duty is to save those that cannot pass to the Soul Society because they have become attached to the world of the living, or this world. If they manage to save that soul, that soul goes to the Soul Society, if not, they become a monster known as a hollow; an empty soul that consumes the souls of living people in order to stay alive. Soul reapers along with hollows cannot be seen by regular humans, only those who have a high amount of spiritual pressure or in your case, are special in that area. Spiritual pressure is like a life force that is given off by a being like a living soul, soul reaper and even hollows."

"But wait a minute, what are these arrancars that you mentioned about?"

"Arrancars are what you last saw. They were once hollows but an item called the Hougyoku allows them to take off their white mask, leaving shards behind, and gain new power. They are also invisible to the people in the world of the living. The ones that you were up against were called Espada. They are the highest ranked arrancars out there and there are only ten of them. A traitor from the Soul Society stole the Hougyoku and used it to transform hollows into arrancars in order to make his own army. His plans with his army is to destroy the Soul Society."

"I don't understand, when I first came to Karakura town I couldn't see them but how come I can now all of a sudden?"

"The answer is physical contact. Do you remember making any contact with any of the hollows?"

"I remember being thrown around by one then finally I had enough of its crap so I bit it to let me go." Nina remembered and Urahara nodded.

"There's your answer. That time that you bit that hollow, sinking your teeth into him created a bond of spiritual pressure allowing yourself to see other hollows now. You're one of few people who know what they truly are now. Many who come across them have little chance of escaping alive." Urahara said. Nina's face softened into a smile.

"Hm, I guess I have Ichigo to thank. He saved me both times from a hollow and arrancar."

"That you do." Urahara nodded again. "Well I feel that I've told you everything that you need to know." He stood up. "If you ever hear anything about hollows or arrancars, please let me know." He said walking over to the door then he looked back. "Oh and one more thing... if you ever need a place to stay and get away from them, feel free to come here. My home is like a safety zone for all soul reapers around here."

"That explains why Ichigo found me unconscious on the first day of school. Wait a minute, Orihime asked Ichigo if it was a hollow but she never finished meaning that Orihime knows and sees hollows too." Nina thought then she shook her head. "Thank you." Nina said and Urahara smiled before walking away. Squeaky footsteps came down the hall again slowly this time like they were packing something heavy.

"Tea is served." Kurodo said carrying a pot of tea over his head. Noba carried a cup and Lirin stood next to them with her arms on her hips. Noba set the cup down within Nina's reach and helped Kurodo and Lirin to pour the heavy pot of tea.

"Thank you." Nina said just before lifting the cup up to her lip. She took a long sip opening one eye while she drank feeling disturbed that three live stuffed animals were staring back at her. She kept on drinking with her eyes closed hopping that they would all go away but they stood staring at her with their beady eyes. She gulped a big gulp then set the tea on her lap and sighed. She opened one eye again and they were still looking at her. She grew more self conscious about them staring at her. "What are you guys supposed to be anyways?" Nina asked with a little hint of irritation in her voice.

"We're mod souls." Lirin answered and Noba nodded his head.

"Mod what's?"

"We're modified souls created by Mr. Urahara himself." Kurodo explained with more detail.

"Mr. Urahara created you guys?" Nina asked with disbelief.

"That's right. We take the form of a capsule that can he stuck into a human or a stuffed animal bringing a life into them." Lirin explained.

"That is so cool. So what you're saying is if I were dead, someone could place your capsule in my mouth and you guys would control my body." Lirin and Kurodo had a slightly disgusted look on their face.

"Erm that's one way of looking at it." Kurodo answered.

"We've never been put into a dead body. Mr. Urahara created a geigai for each of us so that we can blend in with you humans better." Lirin continued.

"What's a geigai?"

"It's basically a human body without a soul. It's completely artificial but you can't even tell the difference." Kurodo added and Noba nodded behind him.

"This is one messed up town." Nina thought drinking again from her tea.


	7. Chapter 7

"Thanks again for taking care of me for the last three days Mr. Urahara." Nina bowed.

"Oh any time Nina it sure was a pleasure to have you over here." Urahara said waved his fan with his cheeks blushing.

"You only want her back so you can wrap her chest in bandages again." Tessai, Urahara's assistant manager whispered so that just him and Urahara could here nudging his shoulder at the same time.

"Come back anytime." Jinta, a young red haired boy who works at the Urahara shop, yelled.

"Bye." Ururu, a young fragile black haired girl said. She worked at the Urahara shop also. Lirin, Kurodo and Noba stood there waving to Nina as well.

"My door's always open." Urahara said. Nina nodded then turned and walked the dark streets heading to her home after three days of missing home and school.

"There's probably going to be a pile of homework waiting for me. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up failing class, it'll take me a month to finish three days worth of homework. Oh well, at least it'll be quiet at home." Nina walked down the dimly lit streets by herself with no one around no cars drove down the streets, no pedestrians walked the route, there didn't seem to be signs of any life of animals. The wind blew a freezing breeze across her cheeks. "Where's my jacket when I need one." Nina hugged herself to try to keep herself warm. She decided to stop walking for a moment to turn around and check to see if anyone was following her. She had a strange feeling that someone was nearby. When she turned back round to walk again she saw those eyes again.

Ulquiorra stood on the sidewalk not very far away but far enough for him to sneak there unseen. Nina lost her breath looking at those eyes of his; it was like a burst of heat started to burn her whole chest. He stood there tall and slender, his hands barely in his pockets he had the same expression on his face as he did when he first looked at Nina.

"Why are you following me?" Nina forcefully asked.

"Why you ask? Why is a girl like you walking down the streets alone in the middle of the night? Don't you know the time?" He mocked, Nina frowned for a moment at his choice of words but then her look softened.

"What's your name?" Nina asked already knowing the answer but she wanted to hear him say it himself.

"Ulquiorra." He finally said after what seemed to be like a long pause.

"I'm Nina." She answered raising her eyebrows from her frown. Suddenly Nina felt a surge of pressure go through her body making her feel as if she were to pass out. She fell on one knee gasping for breath and sweat began to trickle down her face. "What is this?" Ulquiorra stood there not feeling anything, he seemed to know what was going on, his facial expression didn't even change. A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the sky but Nina and Ulquiorra were the only ones that could hear it. Another arrancar stepped out and appeared before them displaying an evil grin on his face and had a head of icy blue hair. Nina could tell that this was an arrancar because Urahara told her that all arrancars have a broken piece of a mask on them and this one had a jaw bone covering his right cheek. She wondered if he was an Espada member like Ulquiorra and Yammy that she had met earlier. He wore a similar white robe but his torso part was basically an open jacket showing off his huge muscles. Nina looked at his stomach and seen a hole similar to Yammy's but this one was right in his gut. The surge of pressure had disappeared once the man stood his ground, Ulquiorra looked over at him uninterested.

"Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said the same tone as he always does but Nina could sense the annoyance in his voice. Grimmjow, the man's laugh quieted down to a chuckle still grinning heavily.

"Who says you get to have all the fun here Ulquiorra?" He smirked. He walked around paying no attention to Nina, he behaved as if he were the only one around. Nina watched him breath a deep breath of fresh air filling his lungs with the delicate air in the World of the Living. "Ah, I always liked the reishi in this world." He said then he noticed Nina staring at him like he was an idiot. He didn't figure that she could see him since most people couldn't so he walked over to her with his intimidating smile returning to his face and a concerned look returned to Nina's. "Well, I didn't think that you could see me here." He bent over so that his eyes were at the same level with hers. Nina said nothing and tried to look confident and stand her ground. "Not very talkative are you? You kinda people bore me." His voice grew more threatening.

"What are you doing here, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra interrupted. Grimmjow looked over his shoulder with a belittling expression.

"What lord Aizen told me to."

"And what would that be?" Ulquiorra asked. Grimmjow put his hand on Nina's head, pulling her up by the hair and holding her high. She cringed.

"What are you doing?" Nina struggled to say. Grimmjow threw Nina across the street and into a brick building creating a large dent in the wall.

"Hmph." Grimmjow said as he walked away from the mess. "I have no reason to tell you everything, Ulquiorra and don't even think that I have to inform you." Grimmjow walked down the street and turned a corner so that he wasn't seen anymore. Nina groaned with a hand on her head trying to stabilize the massive headache that she was feeling, not just a headache but her whole body throbbed.

"I'm really going to feel that in the morning." Nina said to herself but then it dawned on her that she should have been unconscious from an impact on a wall like that but somehow she managed with just a large pain shooting through her body, she felt no signs of passing out. Maybe all the times that she has lost consciousness are paying off and making her stronger, or maybe luck was on her side for once. Ulquiorra too turned around and walked away not bothering to check to see if she was okay, he just walked the streets in a different direction than Grimmjow until he too turned a corner and wasn't seen anymore. Nina slowly stood up and brushed the dust off of herself and continued her way home. What was it with her and encountering these arrancars suddenly that all they want to do is beat her up for no reason, she'd never done anything to them. They must be bullies by nature. Maybe it has something to do with this 'lord Aizen' guy Urahara mentioned creating these arrancars, could he control their actions as well? Nina sighed and limped the rest of her way home.

When she got home, she noticed that the lights were left on inside but at least it made it easier for her to get inside. She reached for the hidden key that was under a loose brick on the walkway and put it in the lock only to find out that it was already unlocked. When she opened the door she found none other than her own brother, Daren, sitting at the kitchen table reading the Karakura town newspaper. Nina wondered how long he had been home since she wasn't able to come home but did he know that. He looked up from the paper like a father does when he's about to scold a child.

"Where were you for the past three days?" He asked quickly while removing his glasses.

"I was uh, I can't really explain."

"I came home and I had those three days off and you don't even show the least respect by coming home. You weren't hanging around with someone you shouldn't be with were you?"

"No, I—."

"Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out during the night especially. You're just trying to screw up your life aren't you? You think because I'm not home often that you can just do whatever you want and get away with it."

"You don't have the right to be saying that." Nina burst out.

"I don't have the right, I don't have the right? I'm the older one here and I know what's best for you."

"No you don't you're not mom and you never will be." Nina shouted almost as loud as she could. Daren stood up and walked over to Nina and she stepped back a little.

"Listen to me girl. As long as I'm making the income, you will do as I say." Daren pointed a finger.

"Why are you being like this?"

"What?"

"Why are you being like this, all commando, how come now you all of a sudden care about what I am doing with myself."

"I'm just trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what? You're never home to protect me, when I need you most you're never around. You don't even care for me; you never were there for me. I do practically everything myself and you never gave a crap so why are you being like this now? Why did you even bring me to this stupid country was it because you wanted to torture me and ruin my life? You only think of yourself." Daren silenced Nina by making hard contact with her cheek. Nina kept her head to the side her hair blocked her faces reaction, not wanting to look into her brothers raging eyes then she whispered, "I hate you." Daren's teeth clutched ready to strike her again but he stopped and Nina ran to her room.

She slammed the door behind her then jumped on her bed and buried her head in her pillow wanting to scream as loud as she could but instead, tears came down her face.

"Why do you always leave me so lonely brother." She whimpered.


	8. Chapter 8

Nina walked the streets looking down at the pavement as she took each step. She thought of last night when her brother rudely yelled at her and then left the next morning without saying anything. Another time that he comes and goes without warning, Nina felt a strong sense that he didn't even think about her when he came home, he just wanted someone to unload all of his stress onto and of course it is always Nina. This time she didn't take his crap, she just yelled back at him releasing some of her stress too. She lifted her head once entering the store and of course seen Hanataro there but Ichigo was also there. They were both talking to each other with very serious expressions on their face like they were discussing some life or death topic.

"I didn't know that you two knew each other." Nina tried to smile looking mostly at Hanataro. Hanataro smiled his usual friendly smile that warmed Nina's heart.

"Oh yeah, Hanataro and I go way back." Ichigo laughed nervously.

"But that's impossible, Hanataro told me that he only came here in January." Ichigo was about to answer but was interrupted by another voice coming from behind Nina.

"Hey Ichigo sorry we're late." The voice said. Nina turned around and seen a whole crowd of people. A man with red hair tied back into a spiky ponytail and had tattoos on him, a huge chested female behind him, some sort of kid from grade school, a baldy, a shorter black haired girl and some guy with weird eyelashes. "Hey Hanataro." The tattooed guy; Renji, waved.

"Not now guys." Ichigo said under his breath.

"Wait a minute, who are these guys?" Nina asked.

"Oh, study group." Ichigo lied.

"Ichigo, we go to the same school and are in the same homeroom. I've never seen you hang out with them before." Nina frowned and walked past Ichigo and the group and rushed outside.

"Nina wait!" Hanataro called running after her.

"Ignoring your girlfriend again, huh Ichigo?" Renji poked.

"She is not my girlfriend." Ichigo yelled.

"Nina, stop, wait please." Hanataro shouted and Nina stopped but kept her eyes on the ground. "Nina please tell me what's wrong." Nina's fists tightened in congruency with her teeth.

"What am I to you Hanataro?"

"Uh, w-what?"

"Am I someone that people can take advantage of."

"Nina..."

"I just feel like I have been lied to a lot lately. Something doesn't feel right in my heart." Nina went silent, Hanataro struggled to find the right words to say.

"How can you say that? Why would I take advantage of you. You're the nicest person to me and you're my best friend. I couldn't bare taking advantage of you because it hurts me to see you sad like this, so please Nina, don't cry." Hanataro said and Nina put a hand on her forearm and squeezed it. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"I'm not crying." Her voice had the shaky sound that it has whenever she'd start to cry. Hanataro turned Nina around to face him and then hugged her.

"It's okay Nina, tell me whoever has been lying to you and I'll go talk to them. I can't beat them up because I don't want to get hurt." Hanataro said and Nina chuckled a little.

"You don't have to do that." She smiled.

"Good, now come on inside and I will make you a strawberry milkshake on me." Nina nodded and they went back around the corner inside the convenience store however, it was not as they have left it. Inside were three hollows and Ichigo was as a soul reaper and the other people that had just come it were also wearing the same black cloaks that he was and carried their own version of Zanpakuto and trying to fight the hollows off. As soon as Nina walked in the door, the hollows turned around and started to head in her direction as if they had a thirsting for her blood. She started to step back before Renji jumped in and took care of the one that was closest to her. The ones wearing the robes of a soul reaper were jumping all over the place and it took almost no time at all to slice the skulls of the other two hollow. Nina sighed of relief after realizing that all of the hollows were gone then the other soul reapers turned to her realizing that she could see them in their form.

"Do you think she can see us?" Renji whispered to the bosomy woman.

"Of course she can." She answered then walked up to Nina and waved a friendly wave in her face. "Hi there how long have you been standing there?"

"You guys are soul reapers aren't you?" Nina asked.

"We are." Was all the kid said.

"There sure are a lot of humans that can see us soul reapers." The guy with the feather eyelashes said to his balding buddy. All of the soul reapers seemed to be taking Nina's question rather lightly but Ichigo could see the distress plastered on her face.

"Nina, how long have you known about this?" He asked.

"Urahara told me everything a few days ago after you took me there to recover."

"Guess I should have expected that from Mr. Hat n' Clogs."

"Aren't you being rude Ichigo? Introduce us to your friend." The one with the huge breasts asked.

"Uh okay. That's Rangiku, Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Hitsugaya."

"That's captain Hitsugaya to you." The kid scolded.

"Captain?"

"Yes, he may look like a kid but he's got quite the brain which earned him a captains ranking in the 13 court guard squads in the soul society." Rangiku's breasts jiggled as she knocked the captain's head. "And I'm his lieutenant. Renji here is a lieutenant too of squad six, and those other three are just taking up room in the reserved seats." Ikkaku, Yumichika and Rukia sulked as Rangiku said this.

"Hey! I'm third seat, I'm practically a lieutenant myself." Ikkaku yelled.

"How interesting, it turns out that I was wrong." Yumichika thought out loud with his hand on his chin.

"Wrong about what?" Rukia asked.

"It's probably something that only Yumichika would think." Ikkaku's bald head shone from the lights.

"I never thought that I would find someone so beautiful here in the world of the living. I always thought that I was the most beautiful one but it turns out that I was wrong." Yumichika smiled and bowed in front of Nina, she rolled her eyes.

Without realizing it, a black hollow hand with long sharp fingers came up through the floor and made its way up Nina's right leg then grabbed it and yanked her down bringing her through the floor into some sort of portal. Nina screamed as she quickly sunk down trying to grab onto the floor with her arms to stop her from going down any further.

"Nina." Ichigo and Hanataro shouted. Ichigo, Renji, and Hanataro rushed to her side and grabbed each arm to try to pull her up but whatever was pulling her down had no intention of letting her go, in fact it pulled her leg harder and began to cut into her flesh causing blood to flow out of her unseen leg. She screamed from fear and pain from her legs and arms being pulled at plus the newly formed wound on her ankle. She tried to kick her feat in desperate attempt to free herself from the hollows grasp but every time she moved, her body went deeper and deeper into the portal.

"Hold on." Ichigo shouted.

"Don't let go." Renji added.

"Hanataro." Nina shouted her best friend's name. Ikkaku and Yumichika jumped in and helped pull, after what seemed like to be forever, they got her out but just barely. Nina and all the boys rested on the floor in exhaustion.

"What the h*** was that?" Renji asked.

"Why was it pulling Nina down?" Rukia asked Ichigo.

"I dunno." Ichigo responded.

"Are you alright Nina?" Hanataro asked.

"I think so."

"You're bleeding." Hanataro noticed the blood on her ankle.

"Just a little."

"Wait here and I will get a first aid kit." Hanataro walked around the counter and into the back room. In no time, he returned with a white box with a red cross on it and opened it up. Just then, Rukia's phone started beeping and she snapped it open.

"More hollows are out there. Three more about a mile away and it looks like they are headed in this direction." She exclaimed.

"Better get going." Renji said.

"Alright, some more fun!" Ikkaku said clearly loving the last battle he had.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's get going." Ichigo said excited as well. Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Toshiro all ran out the door wielding swords in their hands and headed out to exterminate the pests leaving just Hanataro and Nina behind. She sighed once they were gone then quietly watched Hanataro as he began cleaning her wound with cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol while she studied his gentle working hands.

"When did you learn how to treat a wound so good?" Nina asked.

"I took a first aid class a few years back and I kind of developed an interest in it since then." He answered. "It's not that hard."

"How is it that you can handle seeing other people's blood but you told me that you faint at the sight of your own blood?" Nina smiled and Hanataro laughed.

"You know I haven't really thought about that. It's kind of weird how my mind plays tricks on me."

"Tell me about it."

"I could go on and on about that but it may just bore you."

"You never bore me Hanataro." Nina said quietly but not in a whisper making the both of them smile as Hanataro finished tying her ankle in a bandage. Once again, the black hand grabbed Nina but this time it grabbed her on a hand that she had rested on the ground. Hanataro noticed it and grabbed Nina's other hand to try to stop it but it dragged both of them down through a portal. Nina and Hanataro both screamed as they fell downwards from the sky to a sandy bottom. They both looked up and around finding themselves in a very dark world. The only light source was a crescent shaped moon that lit up the white sand and white trees. It appeared like they were in a desert of some sort and it looked very dead. The trees had absolutely no leaves on them, they were as bare as they are in the winter season. "Hanataro, where are we?"

"I have no idea." Hanataro said.

"Look at that." Nina pointed to a structure off in the distance. It was a large castle with a dome shaped roof and five pillars surrounding the main building.

"That thing's huge. It's bigger than anything I've seen."

"Maybe if we go over there, we can find a place out." Nina said getting up and began limping in that direction. She turned around and waited for Hanataro to respond, he just looked at the enormous building.

"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea." Hanataro said having a very nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach but he walked over and put Nina's arm around his shoulder and helped her walk over there. "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Well what else are we going to do?"

"That's the trouble, there isn't anything else."


	9. Chapter 9

After hours of walking and limping over to the large structure in the distance, the building didn't seem to be getting any bigger. It didn't look like they were that far away from it but their exhaustion from walking made them realize that they did not see it for how it really is. Nina was panting from the long walk that they had been on and stopped her and Hanataro for a moment then she sat down on the white sand trying to catch her breath.

"Are you alright Nina?" Hanataro asked. Nina said nothing but just nodded her head as she continued to breathe heavily. Hanataro decided to sit down next to her while waiting for a moment. "It looks like the building isn't getting any smaller but we've been walking for almost an hour."

"Oh great... I thought we were walking for days." Nina struggled to say then she threw herself backwards on the sand and spread her arms out as she closed her eyes for a moment. Hanataro looked up at the crescent moon. There were absolutely no stars in the sky, there were a few clouds but other than that, it was still beautiful to look at. Nina opened her eyes and gazed at the sky as well and after a long moment of silence she finally spoke. "It's really quiet here." Hanataro said nothing as he noticed something coming their way.

"Uh, Nina?" Hanataro said quietly. Nina sat up and looked in the direction that Hanataro was looking at and seen a hollow charging towards them. Once the hollow was close enough, it lifted up its elephant like body to stand on its hind legs then stomped down returning back to all fours. Nina gasped and Hanataro just looked at it in fear for a moment. "Yaa! Don't hurt me." The hollow had eight large tentacle like arms around and underneath its hollow mask and used one to grab Hanataro and throw him out of the way.

"Hanataro." Nina called not being able to see him behind the elephant's body. It lifted up it front legs again. "Hanataro." Nina screamed squeezing her eyes shut before the legs came crashing down towards her but was blocked by something that left a clank sound. When Nina opened her eyes she seen Hanataro in the form of a soul reaper wielding his own Zanpakuto. "Hanataro?" Nina looked slightly confused. Hanataro used his strength to throw back the hollow. "But I don't understand."

"I'm sorry, Nina." Was all he said before the beast charged at them again. Hanataro lifted his Zanpakuto up and blocked the beasts once again before throwing it back then he turned to her. "I'm sorry but this may be a bad time to ask, but, do you trust me?"

"After you lied to me when I asked you about these things? You even lied to me about how you know Ichigo. You both are soul reapers and you must have met before in the soul society."

"Can we please talk about this later? I need to know if you trust me here and now so that I can protect you from this hollow." He said and Nina stayed quiet for a moment as the hollow stood back up getting ready to charge at them again.

"I guess so." She answered then Hanataro turned around and slashed Nina's ankle where her wound was causing it to smoke a red smoke before healing. A gauge filled up on his Zanpakuto a little then he used that power that he just received and fired a beam towards the hollow cutting its mask in half then it faded away. "You... healed my wound." Hanataro looked blankly at the sand for a while before sheathing his Zanpakuto and then Nina stood up. "Thank you... Hanataro." He smiled when he seen the calm smile on Nina's face then they walked towards the building. Despite her outwards appearance, Nina was hurt on the inside. She couldn't believe that her best friend had been lying to her for so long about who he really is but at the moment, it didn't matter too much, she just tried to focus on getting out of there alive.

Hours more passed since when they have first fallen into this dark place. They never said anything since Hanataro showed his soul reaper form and the building in the distance slowly grew. They decided to stop to rest for a while. Nina and Hanataro closed their eyes but Nina waited for him to fall asleep first. When his breathing changed, she realized that he was asleep. She sat up and scooted closer to him and took his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry Hanataro. I can't take the pain of my life for much longer." She whispered looking into his closed eyes. Inside she still was hurting from him lying to her. She gently squeezed his hand before letting go, then she got up and continued to walk without him.

Eventually when she turned back, she couldn't see him anymore; it didn't take her much longer until she finally reached the entrance to the building. She tried to push the door but it wouldn't budge with her strength alone. Luckily there was a window high up and a tree was tall enough for her to climb up and enter it that way. She looked down both sides of the hallway before she jumped down to make sure that the coast was clear but she fell a long way from the window to the ground making unwanted noise. She sneaked around corners being very cautious about anyone coming her way. Her heart jumped when she heard footsteps getting louder from behind her. Luckily the arrancar wasn't focused on where it was walking since it was reading something so Nina silently ran around the corner and waited for it to pass before she proceeded. Little did she know that the corner she hid behind had eyes on it from a nearby bystander.

"Haha, look who it is." A somewhat familiar voice laughed. Nina turned around finding Grimmjow not far behind her with his maniacal grin. Nina gasped and began to step backwards as he walked towards her. Her steps shifted into a run then he disappeared from behind her and stepped in front of her forcing her to stop.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Nina asked as he reached out for her and grabbed her leg twisting her upside down then dragged her away. Nina shouted and tried to fight her way out of his grip as he dragged her down the white corridors then he brought her into a great throne room. Inside a man with brown hair sat with his head resting against his arm on the throne and in front of him, Ulquiorra turned from the throne to face the shouting noise that was approaching behind him. Other arrancars were on the side of the room as well appearing like they were guarding their lord. Grimmjow lifted Nina off of the floor by her ankle to show everyone the prey that he caught.

"Intruders have been found in Hueco Mundo entering Las Noches, lord Aizen." He said with an almost unusual serious expression on his face. Nina's breathing changed as she looked at the upside-down Ulquiorra. His eyes never changed. His sight calmly pierced through her not turning back to his lord.

"Very good Grimmjow." Aizen said slowly. "Leave her here for a moment." Grimmjow looked at Nina again still holding her off of the floor then he tightened his grip on her ankle until she screamed then a loud snapping sound was heard before he dropped her to the ground head first. She wept for a moment then looked at her disfigured ankle trying to hide her pain. Grimmjow left the room not saying anything but making his exit known by the quieting of his footsteps. Aizen looked directly into Nina's eyes but hers not to his. "Hello my dear." Nina's head looked up to meet his intimidating eyes. "Are you all alone?" Nina scowled at him. It was clear that Aizen didn't like her expression so he released a wave of spiritual pressure that put Nina into shock, needing air but not being able to intake any. It was as if everything in her body had stopped but she was conscious to feel the pain; inside her thoughts she was screaming but physically she was frozen on the spot. "Are you alone here?" He repeated after stopping his spiritual pressure. Nina's arms couldn't support her weight after being released so she lay on the floor gasping for breath. She tried to nod half lying about Hanataro. Ulquiorra turned to Aizen.

"Lord Aizen, Grimmjow stated that _intruders_ have been found. There must be another one around somewhere."

"Yes, I figured that. It appears that our little ryoka here is not completely telling the truth. Do you care to explain, human?" Nina continued to pant as Aizen looked over to her waiting for an answer. She struggled to respond to his question.

"He's... he's gone." Nina began. I... ran away... from him." Nina used her elbows to hold her up on the ground.

"Very well then. I appreciate your honesty. What is your name human?"

"Nina." Was all she said.

"Nina... that's a very nice name." Aizen finally lifted his head from his hand to turn his head to Ulquiorra. "Ulquiorra, take Nina away for now until we have made ready a place for her to stay."

"Yes lord Aizen." He said beginning to turn away but Aizen stopped him

"And Ulquiorra, have one member of the Espada guarding the door at all times. We want to make sure that our guest is nice and comfortable." Ulquiorra turned and two guards followed him. Nina was puzzled as to why Ulquiorra completely walked past her but then two guards picked her up and carried her behind him. Nina stayed quiet; she had no energy to fight back since Aizen put her into shock. They followed Ulquiorra down many stairs; there were no windows anymore since they have reached the undergrounds. It wasn't as bright down here although the walls were still white but the lights were dimly lit and it looked as if this corridor had been less traveled and less maintained. Ulquiorra and the guards stopped before a large door, he looked back once at Nina before opening the doors then they walked through. The guards dropped her on the ground then left the room leaving Ulquiorra standing by the door. Nina lay limp on the floor facing him.

"Ul... quio... rra." Nina struggled to say. "You—"

"Lord Aizen has an interest in you." He interrupted. "Ever since we first encountered you in the world of the living, he has been watching you and takes a particular liking towards you." Nina grew disgusted of the thought of that man watching her in everything she had done. "Until lord Aizen has given orders, you are to remain here in this room." Ulquiorra turned around and began to walk out the door but he stopped by the frame then looked back at her. "Don't bother trying to escape. Your door will be heavily guarded." He added just before the door shut behind him. Nina frowned and wanted to scream but her body had become all numb and she soon found out she grew a deep loathing for this place.


	10. Chapter 10

Nina couldn't tell how much time had passed since she had been thrown into this room, she had lost track after counting the first five minutes but figured that she had been in there for much longer than that. Since then, she had gained her strength back but she could only lay on the hard floor in the pitch black since Grimmjow snapped her ankle. It was dead boring in there, absolutely nothing to do just sit there and wait for time to go by. Eventually, footsteps were heard coming down the hallway, they grew louder and louder and Nina's hopes grew with it but soon they passed her door and began to get softer again. Nina clutched her fists up by her head and snapped.

"Rrrrrrraaaah! I can't take this place anymore." She yelled then she began to punch the walls at every word. "This! Place! Is! So! Boring! It's! Driving! Me! In-sane!" Then a door squeaked open. Nina turned her head finding Ulquiorra standing at the door. She felt her cheeks go red then laughed nervously as she felt like he was looking at her like she was an idiot as he kept quiet. She lowered her fist from the wall and held her arms behind her back and faced him.

"Lord Aizen has prepared a room for you." Was all that he said. He turned around then looked over his shoulder to find Nina still just sitting there. It took a while for her to finally clue in that she was to follow Ulquiorra but instead she stubbornly decided to stay in one spot. "Well?"

"Why does Aizen want to give me a better room? Why doesn't he let me stay here?"

"He has need of you so you are to do as he says."

"What happens if I don't?" Nina asked and Ulquiorra turned back to face her.

"Trash."

"Trash?"

"Trash will be discarded and will no longer be in the way." He said before turning his back on her. "Do I have to repeat myself?" He asked.

"I can't really walk." She said. Ulquiorra looked down at her disfigured ankle before calling an arrancar guard in to help her walk. Nina sighed before the guard put one of her arms around its neck so that she could walk with one leg and lean on the guard. She didn't like the weird feeling about hanging onto an arrancar but she decided to cooperate, so they followed him down the hall and up many stairs. Windows were on the floor that they had reached letting the dark moonlight in. After climbing up a second set of stairs, Nina grew tired of climbing and tried to hide it but she couldn't help but pant while being somewhat successful at keeping up with Ulquiorra. He moved at a moderate pace and was not tired, seems that he had walked up and down those stairs a bunch of times for not breaking out in a sweat. Nina wondered how he knew his place around here so well; all the halls looked the same. It seemed like they had walked quite a ways from the room that she was formerly contained in since this building must be huge. Finally, Ulquiorra stopped by an open door and let Nina into the room first. For being a ryoka, it was a nice room. What caught Nina's attention first was the view of the moon from it. The window was high enough off the ground but low enough to sit on it. The window was so high from the outside, if she were to jump out, she would probably die. In the room was a couch and a double bed with a curtain going around it and it even had its own bathroom with a toilet, sink, bath and shower. Nina wondered why Aizen would give her such a nice room. Nina walked in and looked around. The walls were a plain white marble and as was the floor nothing was on it for decoration purposes. The arrancar guard set Nina down on the bed facing the window then turned away and left.

"How do you like your room, Nina my dear?" Aizen said from behind her. She turned her head around expecting to see the face that she did not want to see and she regretted turning around. He smiled and took two steps towards her. "I thought I'd come by and see how you were doing." Nina frowned at this comment and Aizen chuckled. "I have some news that I thought you'd want to hear... Your friend that you were here with turns out to be a soul reaper and he escaped by making contact with the soul society to let him out. He is safe now." Nina was relieved from hearing this but she also was hurt because she had been such a jerk for leaving him.

"He probably hates me now and isn't going to come back for me." Nina thought to herself turning her head away from Aizen and Ulquiorra so that they could not see her expression. She really regretted leaving his side only because she missed him. She was happy that he got out okay, she'd rather him get rescued than her but she felt so bad because she knew that she hurt him so much by leaving.

"You are to go back to the world of the living and see this soul reaper friend of yours." Upon hearing this, Nina gasped. "You are to go back to the world of the living and act as if nothing had happened at all to you here." Nina turned her head around to face him again. "Friday, tomorrow, you are to go to school as you normally would, make like you never left to come to Hueco Mundo then after, you are to go to your soul reaper friend just like you always would on a Friday and tell him that you found your way out through a portal that was opened up by a hollow coming to the world of the living and you are to tell him that you are alright... and you are to make everything BELIEVEABLE."

"What makes you think that you can make me do this? You have nothing that you can take away from me." Nina said daring to talk against Aizen. She expected and was ready to be hit by a storm of his spiritual pressure but instead, he raised his eyebrows and was silent for a moment.

"I understand how you're feeling right now, Nina." He began. "You long for a purpose. You feel back home in your everyday life you don't belong where you are and you desire something great... If you follow me, I promise that I can give you a purpose." Nina was shocked that Aizen could read her like a book, she was almost sold on working for him. "What do you say, my dear." Nina looked at him with hope filled in her eyes and felt like falling on her knees before him but she sat stationary on the bed. She was so sick of her life and she hated it so much that she was desperate for change.

"I... will." She said. Aizen chuckled.

"Good." He smiled. "Welcome to the family." He turned around and left her room and Ulquiorra followed him then the door closed behind him. In the hallway, Ulquiorra stopped Aizen.

"You always impress me, my lord. Getting her to join you seemed like such an easy task." Ulquiorra said.

"Yes, it was rather easy. She seems to be a stubborn one. You just have to hit her in the spot where it affects her most then your target will be willing to do almost anything you say."

"May I ask of your plans for this one?"

"My plans, yes. She is to live what seems to be like a normal life but she will come home here so that we can keep track of her. I will call up a meeting with all the Espada and give great detail of our newest member and what is expected out of everyone. Once she proves herself to us then I will give her a great reward." His smile grew into a light laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

Although this room had more to it than the room Nina was previously staying in, it was almost just as boring so she did the only thing that may give her some sort of entertainment: she snuck out. She didn't really sneak out, she just left her room and if someone had a problem with her leaving her room, depending on who it was, she may go back or may refuse. After all, she did agree to serve Aizen so why was there any problem with her leaving for a while as long as she promised to stay in Las Noches. It was very easy to get lost so she made use of the time to get to know what was where. Hopping down the halls on one foot with her hand on the walls to balance her, she had a feeling that she had been down them already since they were almost exactly the same. She looked inside rooms but only the ones with an open door or no door at all. Every now and then Nina had to stop for a while to catch her breath, hopping on one foot was very tiring but at least it gave her something to do.

She felt like someone was watching her or following but that was a natural feeling for anyone who is going where they weren't supposed to. She stopped again and leaned against the wall taking in some much needed air. She couldn't believe that this place was her new home. It would take her a while to get used to the place and didn't know what to expect as far as the other arrancar and Espada living here. Nina rested her head against the wall. She missed Hanataro but was glad that she would be able to see him and apologize to him, she just hoped that he would be able to forgive her.

Nina had zoned out for a while that she didn't realize that someone was coming her way down the hall until it was practically beside her. Her eyes widened in disbelief of how tall he was. The arrancar had a teeth baring grin that easily made Nina uncomfortable. He had long black hair falling over his shoulders and an eye patch covering his left eye. His uniform was kind of creepy, it looked like he had a giant spoon behind his head. He chuckled.

"Hello there." He said putting his hand against the wall right by Nina then he moved his face closer to hers. "You must be new here. I haven't seen you around before." He laughed again. "I had no idea that Lord Aizen was letting some b**ches in here to stay with us. I'm not complaining at all... No... Actually, why don't you come with me? I can show you around the place. In fact, I'll show you my room there first then maybe we can have a little fun together." He licked his lips with a very long pointy tongue. Nina noticed that it had a 5 imprinted on it. "Doesn't that sound good? It's been a while since I had a little action."

"Nnoitora." Ulquiorra called from a ways behind him. Nnoitora turned around and his eyes widened as Ulquiorra calmly walked towards him with his hands in his pockets.

"U-Ulquiorra." Nnoitora said in shock.

"What are you doing here?" He asked but Nnoitora didn't respond, it seemed as if he was looking for an excuse to give.

"What reason do you have to come this way? You're chamber is not around this corridor." Nnoitora stated. Ulquiorra's expression never changed.

"Neither is yours." He pointed out. "Lord Aizen asked me to check up on the girl."

"What girl?"

"The one that you're standing in front of." Nnoitora looked back at Nina then took his hand off of the wall and stood up strait. "Lord Aizen has recruited that girl. Don't cause any trouble with her, Nnoitora or you will be disciplined for your actions." Nnoitora glared at Ulquiorra with his tightened teeth clearly visible. "It seems I have not made myself clear. Your presence is no longer needed."

"Hmph." Nnoitora said before walking off. He scowled at Ulquiorra as he passed him. When Nnoitora was out of sight, Nina's eyes went to Ulquiorra's and found that they were watching hers; this made her heart jump.

"Thank you." Nina said as a failure of finding the right words to say to break the silence.

"Why are you wondering the halls?" He asked. Nina was surprised by his response and did not like it.

"Excuse me? Is that all you have to say? When a woman is being sexually harassed and she thanks her saviour the least he could say in return is 'you're welcome.' Those words probably didn't even go through your mind."

"You're annoying me." Ulquiorra said in his usual monotone.

"Now I'm annoying you. Why did you even bother coming over here? ...No wait, don't tell me. It was Aizen's orders, wasn't it." Nina hopped on her one foot to turn around her back facing Ulquiorra. "Fine, I see that I'm not welcome to wander the halls. I'm going back to my room." She said beginning to hop towards where she thought her room was.

"You would rather limp back to your room than get your leg healed?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina was puzzled.

"Is that your way of offering to heal me?"

"Correct." Nina shrugged then turned back around and followed Ulquiorra again. She was kind of annoyed that he didn't bother helping her walk or even bothering to call anyone to help her. At least the room he brought her to was close enough. The room was a medical room with a female arrancar nurse fixing Yammy's arm that Ichigo sliced off with his Zanpakuto.

"There, feel any better?" The nurse kindly asked. Yammy rotated his arm before testing out his strength by punching the nurse easily killing her. The nurse screamed before dying.

"That's the third nurse this week, Yammy." Ulquiorra said.

"How can I test my strength without killing someone? If I don't kill them then obviously I haven't got all my strength back." Yammy said rotating his arm again. When he opened his eyes he noticed Nina standing on one foot behind Ulquiorra. "Hey, aren't you the girl that we almost killed from the world of the living." Nina was about to give him a piece of her mind but Ulquiorra interrupted her.

"Yes, lord Aizen has recruited her so there is no need to kill her this time."

"What do you mean this time?" Nina asked irritated. Yammy roared with laughter.

"You sure were dumb to keep on running at me. Every time you did, I just threw you down." Yammy laughed and Nina frowned.

"Okay that's enough big guy." Nina fumed. "Are we going to fix my ankle or what?"

"A nurse is on her way." Ulquiorra spoke.

"Well can't let this arm of mine get all soft. I'm going training." Yammy said. "See ya, Ulquiorra, see ya human."

"This human has a name." Nina frowned again. She jumped up on the bed and let her legs hang down. She kicked her one good one back and forth as she was conscious of the awkward silence between her and Ulquiorra. She noticed the whole time that he was standing there watching her so she started humming and moved her eyes around to try to avoid his but every time she came back to him, he was still looking at her. Nina thought she felt herself blush and grew more uncomfortable. Finally a topic came to her head. It wasn't good but at least it would break the silence between them. "Who was that guy back in the hallway there?"

"Nnoitora Gilga. Espada number five." Ulquiorra responded.

"What's an Espada?" Nina asked.

"An Espada is one of the highest ranked arrancar in lord Aizen's army never exceeding ten members and are marked on various parts of their body with their numerical ranking, 10 being the lowest and 1 being the highest." He said almost sounding professional in his answer.

"I noticed that Nnoitora guy had a tattoo on his tongue, why would anyone want to put it there?" Nina thought out loud. She didn't expect that Ulquiorra would give an answer at all let alone an obvious one.

"That's the spot that he chose."

"Wouldn't it hurt?" Nina raised an eyebrow.

"It seems like it would." He stated rather bluntly. Nina opened her mouth to say something else but the nurse walked in.

"I see what the problem is." The nurse said looking at Nina's ankle bone detached from her leg. Right away she went to work getting out the necessary tools that she needed, or so Nina thought. The nurse held her ankle and moved it with her hand to put it back in place. Nina groaned from the intense pain and dug her nails into the bed. The nurse held her other hand in front and used some of her power to bind the bones together to make it as if it wasn't broken. Slowly the pain began to ease off as the reconstruction was almost complete. Not much later, the nurse stood up and brushed her hands off. "There we go, good as new." She said. Nina stood up and it felt like it had before Grimmjow snapped it. "Take care now."

"Thank you." Nina said before leaving the room, strangely, Ulquiorra followed behind her. This made her nervous, he had been following her down the hall and around a few corners. She felt a little bit of blush coming to her cheeks. Nina decided to quieten her footsteps so that she could be sure to hear his to see if he was still following her. She turned around and faced him. "Why are you following me?"

"Do you even know where your room is?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina was shocked.

"Who says I'm going to my room?"

"Where else do you have to go?" Nina stayed quiet for a while thinking of something smart to say back at him.

"Okay you have a point. But that's because there's nothing to do in this dump of a castle. At least back at the world of the living there's video games to play to pass the time." Something seemed to interest Ulquiorra.

"Video games?" He asked. The monotone in his voice slightly changed as he desired an explanation.

"Yeah, they're loads of fun. Basically you play virtual games on the TV. There are all sorts of games you can play: action, adventure, shooter, 3D fighting, and role playing. There are many systems that you can play them on. My personal favourite is the Nintendo Wii." As Nina kept on talking, she noticed something change about Ulquiorra's eyes. They seemed... interested in what she had to say. "Maybe when I go home tomorrow, I should bring that back over here and we can play 2 player." Nina began to get all excited then she looked back to Ulquiorra and remembered who she was talking to. She was getting herself all worked up because he seemed the least bit interested then she realized that he probably didn't care too much beyond what a video game actually was. She sighed. "I should be going back to my room now." She innocently smiled to Ulquiorra then she looked down both ends of the hallway then gave a little laugh. "Where's my room?"


	12. Chapter 12

Nina stood before Aizen ready in her school uniform. Even though she agreed to follow him, she still hated him but now was not the time to be all smart around him like she usually would be. She was about to enter the World of the Living to go to school then to see Hanataro after, she didn't want to mess it up so she stayed quiet. Nina was being accompanied by Tia Halibel (Espada number 3) just to school; Aizen never said why but Nina got the feeling that he didn't trust her going to the world of the living by herself. She didn't blame him since she was new. Halibel looked down at Nina.

"Are you ready?" She asked in a low voice. Nina nodded looking straight ahead as the portal unzipped before them.

"Have fun you two." Aizen said. "And Nina..." Nina looked over to him. "Remember what we talked about." Nina quickly looked away once he was done speaking. Aizen told her to act as if nothing had happened and tell them that she made it out alright. Nina and Tia walked through the portal and it lead to an alley where no one was able to see them. Nina took a moment to breath in the fresh polluted air of the World of the Living and finally grew more comfortable since she was on familiar grounds back in Karakura town.

"Go on." Tia said. Nina walked out the alley followed by Tia. There were a lot of people around walking and driving just like any other day but it filled Nina's heart with warmth knowing that she was back home. She looked around as she walked. How she had missed the sun. It was always night time in Hueco Mundo, if she was there any longer, she felt that her skin may lose what little tan that she had. Maybe that's why Ulquiorra is so pale is because he never gets any sunlight where he lives.

It didn't take long for Nina to get to school, once she was there, she went to her classroom trying to avoid the rush of people talking with friends outside and in the halls. She flung her bag on her desk and sat in the chair to relax for a moment. Tia, still around her, sat down on top of the desk right beside her and put one leg over the other and folded her arms. They were the only ones in the classroom. Tia stared at Nina and Nina at Tia for a while until Nina grew tired of the awkward silence between the two of them.

"How long are you gonna be hanging around?" Nina asked.

"Until school starts." She replied.

"Five minutes, I can handle that." Nina thought to herself as she and Tia still looked at each other in silence.

"Hey Nina!" A friendly voice said. Nina looked away from Tia relieved that something would help pass the time and ease the silence. When she looked towards the door she seen a bunch of familiar faces; Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryuu coming through the door. Renji, Toshiro, Ikkaku, Rangiku, Yumichika and Rukia followed. Nina was surprised to see the soul reapers come in that she met at where Hanataro works. She was just at the point that she was going to ask them about why they were here but she was cut off.

"Oh thank goodness you're all right." Orihime said running over and giving Nina a big hug. Nina had no time to react to put her arms up, instead she almost got the life squeezed out of her.

"We heard about what happened yesterday to you." Uryuu said.

"And Hanataro." Ichigo added. Everyone came and walked over to Nina and made as if they didn't notice Tia leaning against the desk by hers. She was kind of confused.

"Are you alright?" Yumichika asked stepping in front of everyone getting a little too close to Nina.

"Uh—"

"Of course she's alright, otherwise she wouldn't be here." Renji pointed out.

"It's kind of obvious Yumichika." Ikkaku said as he wanted to make himself noticed too.

"What happened there?" Rukia asked with a serious expression on her face. Nina's mind went blank for a moment as she looked back and forth between Rukia and Tia's face. She tried to think of something quickly that wouldn't be too suspicious.

"Oh nothing. Hanataro and I got separated and I found a way out okay." Nina said waving her hands. "By the way, has Hanataro made it out?"

"Yeah, he seemed really worried about you though. You should probably pay him a visit to show that you're alright." Ichigo suggested and Nina sighed with relief.

"That would be my first choice but stupid school has to overrule it." Nina complained and everyone else nodded knowing what a pain school can be to one's personal life. Just then, the school bell rang and as kids came into the classroom, Tia got up and walked out the door making her way back to Hueco Mundo. She was still puzzled as to why people couldn't see her. Nina froze once she seen Shinji walk in the room. He turned to her and waved.

"Good morning Nina!" He said as if he were trying to make the whole class hear. She sunk in her chair trying to hide. Everyone's heads turned to Shinji when he said that then they looked at Nina. Yumichika rose.

"Who is that?" He asked Nina pointing over to Shinji.

"Shinji Hirako." Shinji replied walking up to Yumichika with his teeth bearing grin. "And who might you be?"

"Yumichika Ayasegawa. Friend of the beautiful Nina."

"I see. Well I happen to be her crush." Shinji lied.

"How can an ugly person like you be liked by my beautiful Nina?"

"Ugly, you should check in the mirror. I don't know how Nina could be a friend to someone with twigs poked into their eyes without even noticing it. You must be lying."

"Those are not twigs, they are feathers that add to my beauty. At least it's better than your bowl cut that no one ever has anymore." Yumichika raised his voice. Everyone watched the two of them fight with each other some taking enjoyment in it.

"Feathers off of a chicken? You must really stink after being around chickens all day to get those feathers stuck in your eyes."

"Why you." Yumichika grabbed Shinji's collar and made a fist.

"Hey cool it guys." Ichigo and Renji stepped in trying to pull the two apart.

"Hello class, sorry I'm late." Miss Ochi said placing her bags down by her desk. Her speech was disrupted when she noticed to voices bickering. She looked up and noticed Yumichika and Shinji fighting over the desk in front of Nina. "Oh right, I forgot that we have some new exchange students joining us for a while." The teacher sighed. "Why don't all the new transfer students come up and introduce yourselves." She suggested. Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku and Toshiro walked up to the front of the class but not Rukia. Shinji took back his seat as Yumichika was forced to go up, he glared at Shinji the whole time he was up there.

"I'm Toshiro." Captain Hitsugaya said sounding bored. The Captain looks so much like a kid from grade school. Keigo even made a wise crack about him being in the wrong school and Toshiro tried to hide his violent anger while he was under surveillance of a teacher but it was clear that he was fuming inside.

"Renji Abarai."

"Rangiku Matsumoto." She said and all of the boys gawked at her very large breasts. She always kept her shirt open to show them off even in a school. The teacher slammed a ruler on her desk waking up the boys and making them pay attention to what the rest of the exchange students had to say.

"Yumichika Ayasegawa." He said through his teeth still glaring at Shinji and Shinji just smiled and waved at him in mockery.

"I'm Ikkaku Madarame." Ikkaku said and Shinji burst out in laughter.

"Bahahaha. That guy's bald." Shinji pointed.

"I am not bald." Ikkaku said making a fist as his head shined from the florescent lights.

"Baldy." Shinji repeated.

"That's it, I've had it with you." Ikkaku yelled talking out his wooden sword from his belt buckled and attacked Shinji with it repetitively. The teacher sighed again with a hand on her face.


	13. Chapter 13

Later once the school bell rang at the end of the day, Nina was the first to get up and she ran out of the school and hurried over to see Hanataro. She was told that she had half an hour to see him then Ulquiorra would be waiting for her to go back to Hueco Mundo. It seemed to take forever to get to where he worked, traffic was holding her up from crossing the roads and no one was nice enough to let her through. After waiting for what felt like ten minutes, she decided to go for it. She kept on running and not bothering to look back after hearing the piercing sound of a car screeching to a stop then blasting their horns at her. It seemed to happen at many intersections, she even had a driver get out of their car and started yelling at her about looking where she was going but that didn't stop her from running. Once Nina got to the shop, she could see Hanataro through the glass windows.

"Hanataro! Hanataro, I— whoa!" Nina shouted as she slipped and fell from a wet floor that was currently being mopped up by another employee. Hanataro gasped.

"Nina. Are you alright?" Hanataro asked hurrying around the counter to get to her. Nina sat there in pain and slightly winded from the fall right on her back. She tried to talk to him before regaining her breath but nothing came out. "Breathe deeply." Hanataro instructed. Nina took a moment to breathe before trying to say anything.

"Hanataro I need to talk to you." Nina said in a hurry.

"Okay but I think we should go in the back so I can check up on where you landed and treat it so that it won't bruise." Hanataro suggested and Nina nodded. Hanataro helped Nina up and she winced from a pain shooting up and down her back preventing her from standing straight up. "Come on this way." He led her into a stock holding room and sat her down on the chair.

"Hanataro I'm sorry. Back in that weird place I got attacked by another hollow and I was scared so I kind of ran for my life." Nina smiled nervously hopping that he would buy it. Hanataro looked back into Nina's eyes with worry radiating from his.

"Is that really what happened. I was worried about you that you where hurt. I spent the longest time looking for you and shouting out your name. I thought maybe something really bad happened to you but..." Hanataro had to stop himself from thinking bad things and remembering the pain of losing Nina. "But I'm just happy that you are safe now." He smiled. Nina smiled back then dove into his arms.

"Hanataro, you don't know how much I missed you. I thought that I'd never see you again." Nina said as tears came to her eyes as she squeezed her arms around him. "I thought that you'd think that I'd left you and I was scared that you would be mad at me."

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you? You didn't do anything wrong." Hanataro said and this made Nina cry even harder for lying to him then she tore herself away. Of course Hanataro wouldn't be mad, he's just the purest thing.

"I'm just so happy that I can see you." She said smiling and he smiled back.

"I'm going to check on your back. It seemed like you fell on it pretty hard back there." Hanataro said and Nina nodded before swivelling around in her chair. Hanataro gently placed his hands on her lower back and pressed his thumbs into her spine. "Does that hurt?" He asked, Nina shook her head. As Hanataro moved his hands up her back then across her shoulders, a blush crept on both of their faces. "How about that?" Nina nodded then Hanataro began to heal it with his spiritual pressure.

"It's a good thing that I found out about your soul reaper powers. Now you don't have to hold back from healing me every time I get hurt." She chuckled.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it." He smiled then it quickly faded. "I'm sorry I lied to you about who I am Nina. I just didn't want you to get hurt. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can. I won't stay mad at you, you're too nice of a person." Nina said and Hanataro smiled with relief. "But there is one thing I'm kind of curious of." She thought out loud.

"What's that?"

"I want to know more about your healing powers and your role in the Soul Society."

"Well I graduated from Soul school near the top of my class. I had a very hard time wielding a Zanpakuto so I was advised into taking medical training so that I can heal others. That's how I'm able to help you now. Souls who wish to become soul reapers go to Soul school to hopefully be good enough to enter the 13 court guard squads. Because I specialized in the medical area, I was able to gain 7th seat in squad four."

"Really? I didn't realize that there was all of that in the Soul Society. I thought that that was a place where dead people's souls go to."

"There's a lot more to it than that. It's basically a whole new second chance at life there. I should bring you there some time and I can show you where I work."

"Living souls can go there too?"

"Only with the help of a soul reaper then they can."

"Why are you here in the World of the Living?"

"I was placed here on some kind of mission but I can't really remember what it was. Now it's kind of like I'm sort of living in your world now." Hanataro chuckled as he finished healing Nina's back then he turned her around to face him. When Nina looked at Hanataro's smiling face, a burst of heat went through her chest. She looked at him differently for some reason. Hanataro was once a living soul on this earth but has died and has been reborn as a powerful soul reaper in the Soul Society.

"Hanataro, when did you die?" Nina asked with a serious voice and Hanataro's smile faded.

"Oh, you know. Now that I think about it, I don't really know. I never thought about my life in the World of the Living. Once souls die, they have no memory on what their life was in this world."

"So if I were to die and go to the Soul Society, I would remember nothing about you?"

"Uh-huh, but I would remember you and if I see you there, I will know you because you look exactly the same as you do in your first life."

"But what if I turn into a hollow?"

"Then you will be in Hueco Mundo." Hanataro said and Nina gasped. That's where she and Hanataro were. That is where she is going to have to live and serve Aizen. She has basically turned into a hollow already by promising to serve him and live there. "You won't turn in to a hollow Nina, I just know you won't." Nina had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Hanataro realized that something was wrong with Nina. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think I just have to go to the washroom for a moment." Nina got up and walked quickly to the washroom. She splashed her face with cold water then looked at herself in the mirror. What was she doing in Hueco Mundo living with the hollows and arrancars? If she lives like that, she will never go to the Soul Society when she dies; she will just turn into a hollow and forever remain in Hueco Mundo. Nina wondered if she could get away from them somehow. After a moment, she came out of the bathroom and realized what time it was since Ulquiorra was waiting for her outside of the shop. She couldn't get away then with him watching her. "Hanataro, I'm sorry but I have to go now. I have to be somewhere soon."

"Oh, okay. I'll make you a strawberry milkshake next time then."

"Yeah for sure." Nina said hopping that there would be a next time. She turned to the door and Ulquiorra was there starring at her with his emerald eyes. When she got outside, she sighed.

"What took you so long?" Ulquiorra said.

"Is that your way of greeting someone?" Nina asked irritated that his first comment was so cold rather than a greeting. "It hasn't even been a half an hour yet. How long were you waiting there?" Ulquiorra stood there for a while and looked at her as she waited for an answer.

"Let's go." He said turning around as his robe flowed with him. Nina hesitated for a moment before following. As they walked away to find a less populated place to walk through the portal, Nina walked five steps behind him the whole way thinking to herself about becoming a hollow. Ulquiorra wondered to himself why Nina was so quiet and far away as he looked back at her every now and then to find that her head was down but he said nothing about it.

"Can we stop at my house for a moment? I want to bring something back to Las Noches with me." Nina asked quietly. Ulquiorra looked back at her for a moment before responding.

"Alright, but be quick about it." Nina smiled slightly before walking faster to be beside him and she led him to her house. When they got to her house, she unlocked the door with the spare key she keeps in a garden decoration and let themselves in. Ulquiorra looked around. He didn't show it but he was amazed at all of the weird things that the World of the Living had like the television and the microwave. Little pieces that humans usually took for granted was a whole new experience to someone who has never been around them but Ulquiorra was very good at hiding what he was thinking but he couldn't help but look around.

"Okay, wait there." Nina said to Ulquiorra gesturing it with her hands. He looked up to her before she turned around and went to her room. She grabbed a backpack and threw in a few of the necessities of life in them such as a Nintendo DS, along with all the games that she owned for it, candy, chocolate, toiletries and a few books for the times that she was without a DS although she didn't really like to read. Nina threw the backpack around her shoulder then opened a window from her room and quietly climbed out of it looking both ways to make sure that Ulquiorra wasn't there before running across the yard only to get nowhere.

"Where are you going?" Ulquiorra's voice questioned. Never in her life has a monotone voice scared Nina so much.

"Uh, you see, I... needed and you were... couldn't find..." Nina was trying and failing to make up a story so that Ulquiorra would believe her but she was silenced as he slowly walked towards her with his hands in his pockets then he reached out for her and grabbed her by the wrist.

"We're going back to Hueco Mundo now." He said snapping his fingers to unzip a portal right where they were and forcing Nina inside. Once they walked through, they appeared to be in Aizen's throne room. There he sat with his head resting on his fist.

"Welcome back Nina." He smirked. Ulquiorra let go of Nina's wrist in the presence of Aizen.

"I can't serve you anymore." Nina came right out and said. Aizen didn't seem to be surprised.

"Oh and why might that be?"

"I can't lie to my best friend. He doesn't deserve this."

"What makes you think that you are lying to him? You just had to do that one lie and now he doesn't need to know about what side you are on."

"It's not that easy." Nina shouted making the whole room silent. Aizen looked at Nina for a moment before saying anything else.

"I don't think you understand, Nina. I gave you the freedom to go the World of the Living to school and to go visit your friend. Once you agreed to work for me, you can't go back now. You belong here in Hueco Mundo." Aizen said. Nina's heart froze after hearing this then she ran out of the throne room and slammed the door behind her. She leaned against the closed door breathing heavily to fight the tears that tried to come to her eyes. Ulquiorra came out of the door beside her with his hands in his pockets. He turned to her and watched her as her eyes were squeezed shut.

"You gave lord Aizen your word, now you must serve him as you promised."

"You didn't have to say that. It was already made clear." Nina said quietly. She walked back to her room where she could weep alone.


	14. Chapter 14

After crying for hours, Nina lay like a zombie on her bed looking out at the crescent moon in the night sky in Hueco Mundo. She felt so bad for lying to Hanataro the way she did and that she left him when they first came here from a hollow yanking her through a portal. He was so sweet; he didn't deserve to be lied to even though he lied to her about being a soul reaper. She did deserve to be lied to though after running from him. Nina was beating herself up inside but was interrupted by the squeak of her door opening. She looked over with teary eyes to see who it was. Once she noticed it was Ulquiorra, she wiped it with her sleeve. He came in by himself leaving the door open behind him.

"Why do you cry girl?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina thought that this was an impolite remark.

"You wouldn't understand." She said coldly before wiping her eyes again then looked back at the moon.

"You're right. I don't understand why you humans weep." Nina was sort of surprised that Ulquiorra said this out loud but she believed what he had said. "I have brought you dinner." He stepped aside and an arrancar came in rolling a cart with her food on it then the arrancar left closing the door behind it.

"I'm not hungry right now." Nina said.

"Fine, but I'm going to stand here and watch you until you eat every last bite." He replied.

"I don't want it." She finally said to make it obvious from her first comment that she meant she wasn't going to eat it.

"If you won't have it, then I will have no other choice but to make you eat it. Would you like me to tie you down and force it down your throat or perhaps you would like me to give it to you intravenously?" Nina was disgusted but she turned away from him.

"I don't want it." She said again. Ulquiorra walked around her bed and blocked her view of the moon. He shone from the light it gave off and his eyes were more intriguing than usual.

"You don't think I'm serious about this do you."

"No I don't." She said. Ulquiorra looked at her before speaking.

"Very well, I will inform lord Aizen about your failure to cooperate." He said and as he was about to turn away, Nina stopped him.

"Wait." She said. "Fine, I will eat." She didn't want to see Aizen of all people. "Just don't bring Aizen into this."

"I'm going to stay here and make sure you eat every bite." He said walking over to the tray of food. Nina climbed over her bed and looked at the food before putting a small mouthful of it into her mouth. Yuck, arrancar food sure tastes gross compared to the food in the World of the Living. She found it very hard to swallow the food without gagging in front of Ulquiorra but she managed to for all the mouthfuls she had to take. Ulquiorra stood there quietly watching as Nina struggled to eat her plate of food. He had wondered something about Nina since they first met.

"Why are you not afraid of me after I threatened to kill you?" He finally asked and broke the silence. "Back in the World of the Living."

"Who says I'm not?" She said with a bit of food in her mouth.

"So you are?"

"I never said that either."

"You're annoying me." Ulquiorra said and there was another moment of silence as Nina swallowed. She sat there looking at her food and Ulquiorra wondered why she had stopped. She looked to him.

"Why, why didn't you kill me?" She said with a sad heart that her eyes reflected. Ulquiorra looked at the sadness in her eyes and actually enjoyed seeing them. He found the emotion of sadness rather interesting because it shows what the heart is really feeling.

"You're trash that isn't worth killing." He finally said. Nina looked up at him with disbelief.

"You don't mean that. If I'm trash then I would have been disposed of long ago." She said looking back down at her plate that was almost done. "You even said so yourself: 'Trash will be discarded.'" Ulquiorra was shocked that Nina remembered his comment and took it to heart, he didn't think that she would take that comment so seriously. "Why did you even say that comment if you knew I wasn't worth killing?" Nina watched Ulquiorra intently, her eyes begged for an answer but he gave none. "Do you like seeing me like this? Is that it?" Ulquiorra's expression never change as he observed her.

"Yes." Was all he said. First Nina was saddened but then she turned angry at the sickening statement. She tried to think of something she could say to make him eat those words so she decided not to say anything like that, instead she threw her arms down.

"Do you not have a heart?" Nina's voice rose. Silence.

"...Yes." Was all he said. Nina looked down.

"Oh." She said quietly. "Sorry I asked." Silence again.

"Is your sadness because of your heart? Is sadness what makes you humans so weak?"

"My heart... is sad." Once Ulquiorra's second question processed through her head, she frowned at him. "Sadness is not a weakness. Sadness means that we have been strong for too long."

"I see." He finally took his eyes off of Nina to look down. "Your heart is sad because your heart is strong." He thought out loud. Nina set her fork down after eating only three quarters of what was on her plate. Ulquiorra looked at it before he allowed an arrancar to take it away. He followed the arrancar out the door but he stopped and looked back at Nina finding her looking down. "You humans are unusually interesting." He said before walking away. Nina watched as his robe floated behind him as he walked down the hall.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day, Nina spent the whole day in her room trying to avoid everyone until it was officially the evening. She had basically spent the whole day by herself moping around and playing on her DS. She didn't even bother taking a shower or even putting makeup on. She felt like a total slob and she didn't even bother to try to make herself presentable, she was just too depressed. There was a rather annoying knock on the door and Nina didn't bother getting up to see who it was. There wasn't much time to do so since Tia came in so quickly after. She was about to speak but then she looked at Nina kind of surprised that she was still on her pyjamas. Nina looked up from her DS.

"Lord Aizen wants to see you." Tia said.

"Now?" Nina groaned.

"Yes now." Tia was about to leave. "You may want to do something with yourself." She said then she closed the door. Nina sighed before getting up. She put a jacket over top of her and zipped it up half way then took her hair out of her messy braids and combed it out leaving it down and curly. Good enough, she figured then she headed for the direction that she thought Aizen's throne room was located. She knew that she was in the right place once she had seen those jumbo doors. She held her breath before opening them dreading going in. Once she looked inside, she had seen a weird silver haired smiley guy standing there as if he were waiting for her. His smile wasn't a friendly one, it was more... intimidating.

"Hello there. You must be the one Aizen called for. Aizen told me to stay here so that I can bring you to the Espada meeting room." He smiled never showing his eyes.

"So I'm in the wrong place." Nina suggested.

"Apparently so. I can take you over to Aizen right now if you'll just follow me." He said walking past Nina. Nina gave no thought into following him, her feet just moved. She was kind of surprised how close the meeting room was, it was basically down the hall and around the corner. He stopped at another double door and opened them up and let Nina go in first. She walked inside and seen a long table in the very middle of the room, Aizen sat at the head opposite of the door and down the sides were a bunch of arrancars including Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. She figured that this was the Espada. Everyone looked at her causing her to feel very uncomfortable in front of all those menacing faces. It was rather odd, everyone had a cup of tea in front of them.

"Welcome my dear Nina. Have a seat." Aizen instructed. A black guy set a chair down at the opposite end of the table across from Aizen. Tia sat on her right and a pink haired guy with glasses on her left. "Gin, would you get our lovely guest a cup of tea?" Aizen ordered and the smiley guy stood next to her and slightly bowed.

"Of course lord Aizen." He said. Aizen's smile grew.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to our newest member... This is Nina." Everyone's heads turned from Aizen over to Nina and stared her up and down, everyone except Tia and Ulquiorra who have gotten to know her a bit. "Nina is joining us from the World of the Living and will be staying with us in here in Las Noches." Gin stepped over to Nina and placed a hot cup of tea, she just looked at her reddish reflection not bothering to take a sip. "Nina, I will introduce you to all of my dear Espada, Espada number one: Starrk Coyote." Aizen pointed to a wavy brown haired arrancar with a goatee, he looked like he was having trouble staying awake. "Espada number two: Baraggan Luisenbarn. Espada number three you've already met: Tia Halibel. Espada number four you've met as well, Ulquiorra Schiffer. Espada number five, Nnoitora Gilga." A shiver went down her spine when she locked eyes with Nnoitora. She tried to look away but his irritating smile kept her eyes from wondering. Aizen interrupted. "Espada number six, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." His smile was disturbing as well. "Espada number seven, Zommari Rureaux. Espada number eight, Szayel Aporro Granz." Nina's eyes widened with disgust looking at the pink haired freak who pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Espada number nine, Aaroniero Arruruerie. And lastly Espada number 10, Yammy Llargo." Nina was still behind one member, she was focused on Aaroniero because he clearly did not have the form of a human. His head was like a fish tank with round skulls floating in it. "And I cannot forget my fellow former captains, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen."

"Hello again Nina." Gin said.

"Nina will be partaking in her usual routine in the World of the Living until further notice. However, she needs accompaniment five days of the week. I have already chosen those who will be attending her. Starrk." Aizen said and Starrk opened his eyes from sleeping. "You will be taking Nina to the World of the Living because you need to be doing more." Starrk sighed. "Tia, you will be doing so as well; as will Grimmjow and Ulquiorra."

"Lord Aizen. I thought you said that she needs to be taken five days a week and you've only mentioned four Espada." Nnoitora said looking at Nina with a seductive smile. She could only imagine why he was wondering that.

"I'm glad you noticed, Nnoitora... Ulquiorra will be taking her to and from the World of the Living on Mondays and Fridays. Tia is Tuesdays, Starrk is Wednesdays and Grimmjow will be Thursdays. Back when Nina lived in the World of the Living, every Friday she would visit a friend in a diner and she is to keep that up to prevent suspicion. The objective is to make her seem as if she is living at her normal home without actually being there. In a few weeks, I will call for a status update then depending on her cooperativeness, I may assign Nina a new task." Aizen took a sip of his tea before continuing. "In other news, we lost more arrancars out in the World of the Living. Soul Reapers have been sent there before our arrancars even had a chance." Nina's mind wondered off as she traced the rim of her untouched tea cup with her middle finger, her head rested on her hand. She wondered what it was going to be like living with these Espada and arrancars, they were kinda creepy. This would definitely take some getting used to. She raised her eyes and went through those around the table. How was she going to remember the names of everyone here? Let's see, she could easily remember Tia Halibel, Ulquiorra Schiffer, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Nnoitora... What was his last name? That's all she could remember, oh and Yammy, she knew Yammy from when he and Ulquiorra invaded the World of the Living. Other than that, she couldn't memorize the others names. She was easily better with faces rather than names and a few of them stuck in her memory. Pinky, Sleepy, and Fishtank. The other two... meh not so much.

"As of now, you will all spend at least 30 hours week training with your fraccións. We need to have everyone at the best they can be in case of unwanted intrusion." Aizen looked around. "That is all for today's meeting. You are all free to go now. Ulquiorra, Grimmjow and a few others got up to leave the room. Nina stayed in her chair until the rush was gone.

"So who's fracción will Nina be?" Nnoitora grinned putting his arms behind his head and relaxed on his chair. Ulquiorra stopped by the door frame and looked back upon hearing this question.

"Nina is not yet capable of battling yet. When she is I will consider the possibilities." Aizen said getting up and leaving. Nnoitora laughed.

"Oh, good to know." He chuckled getting up and leaving. Nina sat in her chair looking at her tea. Everyone had left the room but she remained there alone once again lost in thoughts. How long will this last that she has to stay here? She wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted by a light snoring sound. When she looked up, she had seen Starrk sleeping with his head resting on his folded arms lying on the table. Starrk apparently had not heard that the meeting had ended. Nina rolled her eyes and got up to leave the room.


	16. Chapter 16

Monday morning, gotta get up for school. Right, Ulquiorra was taking her today. Nina sat up and stretched before moving herself to the edge of her bed. After a while of feeling like it was too early to wake up, she got out of bed and got ready for school. She managed to find her way to Aizen's throne room again after being there enough. She felt like Aizen was trying to portray himself as a loving father and seeing her off as she went about her daily routines. She stood by the door and held her breath before opening the double doors. Sure enough, Ulquiorra had been standing there waiting for her.

"Morning." She said rubbing her eyes.

"Ready to go?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina nodded. He snapped his fingers and a portal unzipped before them. Nina took no time at all before walking through the portal being followed by Ulquiorra and at last she was back in a more desired place. She walked out of the alley once again on the busy streets of Karakura town. Nina felt kind of awkward walking quietly beside Ulquiorra, she felt like she had to say something to him, but if she did, people would give her funny looks since he wasn't able to be seen by anyone. Ulquiorra walked almost uncomfortably close beside her. Was this a sign that he was protective? He didn't seem like that kind. Once they got to a less busy place, Ulquiorra's pace sped up. He walked straight in front of Nina and what was strange enough, he knew exactly where she was supposed to be going. This shocked Nina a little bit. When they reached the school, Ulquiorra opened up all of the doors necessary and walked directly into the right classroom and parked himself beside Nina's desk. It was as if he knew her usual habit of liking to sit at her desk before the bell rang. Nina threw her bag down on her desk and sat there with her head turned away from Ulquiorra. Awkward silence. This is uncomfortable. She turned her head to Ulquiorra after hearing his cloths rustle from movement, she thought he had turned away but she turned her head quickly back to the window once she realized that he was staring at her. She felt her cheeks getting warm.

"Good morning Nina!" Nina never thought that she would ever be this relieved when seeing Shinji waving to her by the classroom door frame. Someone to break the awkwardness. Shinji marched over to her and dropped himself at his spot right behind her. "And how are we today?" He asked with his goofy teeth barring smile.

"Fine, I guess." She shrugged but smiled.

"You must be better than that, you actually smiled at me just now." He said. Nina sat up.

"I did not just smile at you."

"Oh yes you did. You can't take it back, Nina. Just admit it." He pointed.

"Okay maybe I did smile... But it wasn't at you." Nina said. They both stopped talking once they heard someone running. They looked over to the doorway.

"Nina!" Yumichika's voice yelled as he stood by the doorway then he ran and hopped over a bunch of desks and stood by Nina. "Oh Nina I have suffered a whole weekend without you. I cannot say how much I have missed you."

"Hey get away from her pal." Shinji stood up and slammed his fist on his desk.

"Why don't you make me, buddy?" Yumichika threatened. Both boys began to scrap and Nina looked over at Ulquiorra then pulled a face palm blushing madly.

"Hey Nina." Ichigo walked through the doorway with his eyes closed and one hand was holding his backpack that was rested on his left shoulder.

"Neeeeeeeeeeeeeena!" Orihime yelled as she ran towards Nina so that she could suffocate her with her usual Monday morning hug.

"Ggghh. Hi... Orihime." Nina tried to say. Just then the bell rang and Ulquiorra stood up and walked out of the room. Nina watched as his coat tails floated behind him, she watched them fly around the corner until he was seen no more. She had a strange feeling of sadness.

"Good morning class." The teacher sang as she walked in. This always annoyed Nina, she felt like she was in elementary school again when a teacher greeted like that. At least the class didn't respond back, well, except Orihime.

In PE class, they were playing volleyball outside. The class broke up teams of four. Nina was with Orihime, Tatsuki and Uryuu playing against Ikkaku, Ichigo, Renji and Chad. It was an unfair game. Team Ichigo was totally owning Nina's team. They had all tough guys that were very competitive and strong. Nina was with other girls, and Uryuu who wasn't big on sports. Tatsuki was pretty good though. Her karate lessons help her reflexes so she can act fast. Chad served the ball and Tatsuki bumped it.

"It's all yours Nina." Tatsuki called. Nina went to set it. As she jumped up, she had to shield her eyes from the sun reflecting off of Ikkaku's bald head so the ball fell past her and she landed on her stomach on the sand.

"Are you okay Nina?" Orihime gasped picking up the ball that rolled to her.

"D*** it Ikkaku. Did you wax your head or something?" Nina asked holding her throbbing stomach.

"Yeah that's not fair. You guys are cheating by using Ikkaku's bald head to reflect the sunlight." Tatsuki shouted.

"I am not bald!" Ikkaku shouted back.

"Oh really, then why's your head so shiny?"

"Ikkaku's head only projects the sunlight at a 90° angle from the sun and Nina's position is the most likely to be interfered seems how she is playing right in front of him." Uryuu thought out loud pushing up his glasses while Tatsuki and Ikkaku shouted at one another. Nina looked up and thought that she had seen a figure.

"Bald!" Tatsuki shouted.

"I am not bald!" Ikkaku shouted back.

"Bald!"

"I am not bald!"

Nina ignored their shouting and tried to focus in on the figure but she was too far away to see who it was. She thought that it was maybe Ulquiorra watching her in the distance seems how it was very white.

"Quit it guys. Let's just get back to the game." Ichigo said.

"Yeah cut it out. We need to get back to schooling you girls and Uryuu." Renji added.

"Hey!" Uryuu shouted.

"I'm not playing like this anymore. These teams are totally unfair." Tatsuki said.

"Why don't we just make a trade?" Orihime suggested."

"Okay, you guys can have Renji since he's no good to us." Ichigo joked.

"Hey, what are you talking about? Who's the one that scored nearly one third of the points?" Renji shouted at Ichigo.

"I scored the other third don't you remember." Ichigo pointed out. "Chad and Ikkaku make the last third."

"Well why don't you get rid of one of them. I don't want to play on a team of just girls. Especially losing girls."

"Excuse me?" Uryuu said. Renji looked over at Uryuu.

"And Uryuu. No offense."

"I think that we should get your best player and you take our worst player to even things out." Nina said a little irritated from the nonsense going on.

"Fine." Ichigo and Renji said at the same time.

"We'll trade Ichigo for Uryuu." Tatsuki said. Uryuu glared at Tatsuki. Ichigo started walking over to the other team before Renji shouted.

"Now hold on there for a minute! Don't you think that I'm the best player on the team?"

"Who cares, they wanted me so I'm going." Ichigo shouted. Uryuu walked over to the other side.

"Oh brother." Nina and Orihime shook their heads in unison.


	17. Chapter 17

School went by unusually fast today for Nina. Ever since she was captured by the Espada, she had enjoyed going to school more, maybe it was because going to school now was a freedom more than a choice. Nina walked outside behind everyone following her group of friends. Ichigo, Renji, Orihime, Uryuu, Chad, Rukia, Ikkaku, Toshiro, Yumichika and Rangiku stood around talking in a circle, Nina felt like she should approach them but she had seen Ulquiorra waiting nearby so she sighed and avoided them.

"Hey! Nina!" Orihime waved. Nina turned around. "We're all going to Urahara's now, did you want to come?" Nina smiled but looked at Ulquiorra. She figured that he was getting impatient so she looked back at Orihime and shook her head.

"Sorry, I can't today. Gotta do some homework... or something. Thanks anyways though."

"Good bye for now, my dearest Nina!" Yumichika called, Nina tried her best to ignore him and walked straight to Ulquiorra and stopped before him.

"Huh? Who's she talking to?" Rangiku wondered after noticing Nina's lips moving.

"It's nothing to worry about. Maybe she's just one of those people that talks to themselves." Ichigo figured.

"It must be a North American thing." Uryuu said out loud.

"Let's go." Ulquiorra said and yet again, Nina followed him down the streets to get to a less populated place. Ulquiorra looked behind him and noticed Nina's head was faced down. "You have quite the group of comrades." He said.

"They're not all my friends." Nina said almost smirking. "Especially those two weirdo's that you seen in the morning."

"Tell me, why were those two fighting over you?" Nina was surprised to hear him ask this question.

"Because they both like me."

"Like... you?" Ulquiorra's tone was almost unusual, a little different than he normally talks.

"Uh, yeah. When two people like the same person, they tend to get into fights over that person so that that person will like them back." Nina had to quickly stop so that she wouldn't bump into Ulquiorra who had stopped in front of her. She walked beside him and noticed him looking down as if he were in thought about something. "Ulquiorra... are you alright?" He stood there quietly for the longest time looking at the ground. The wind passed by and the rustling of leaves could be heard as it tossed their hair around. Ulquiorra looked back up and continued walking. Nina wondered what that was about. They walked for a while longer before they reached their usual alley way then he stopped once again, snapped his fingers and the portal unzipped before them.

"Ah, welcome back Nina." Aizen greeted and Nina totally ignored him and walked out of the throne room. Ulquiorra remained beside Aizen. "Seems like she hasn't quite warmed up to this place."

Nina walked through the halls. She stopped when she heard some loud noises coming from somewhere. She tried to follow the sound and it lead her to a double door. She unwisely decided to open it up and as soon as she did, she was forced to dodge a ray of energy coming towards her.

"What the heck?" She said out loud while getting up. The door lead to a balcony that looked over a giant room looked like it was meant for training. Down in the center of the bottom floor where Halibel and one of her fracción

"Sun-sun, you're not supposed to unleash your full strength indoors. Lord Aizen forbids that." Halibel shouted at her fracción.

"I'm sorry Tia, but how am I supposed to get any training if I can't unleash my fullest strength." Sun-sun replied.

"Save that for when we spar outside of Las Noches." Nina walked over to the balcony and looked at the small figures those voices came from. The walls and floor had craters big and small scattered around. There was a poorly patched hole in the wall about the size of a tall man and was boarded up with wood letting the sun shine in through the gaps between the boards. Wait a minute. There was daylight? Every time Nina was in her room looking out it was dark, so why was there sunlight shining through? What could have caused that hole anyways?

"What are you doing here?" A voice called causing Nina to miss a heartbeat. She thought the voice was coming from behind her but when she looked back, no one was there. She heard an echo of footsteps and looked back down. Grimmjow walked in with a bunch of his fracción following behind him.

"What does it look like?" Halibel snorted.

"I reserved the indoor training grounds for my men so what makes you think that you can be here at all?" Grimmjow asked.

"Since when do you train with your fraccións? All you do is give them their own training and you train on your own."

"Shut the h*** up! I'm not going to repeat myself now get out of here." Grimmjow pointed.

"Why don't you make us?" Halibel said confidently.

"Uh, Tia, do you think we should listen to him?" Sun-sun said hiding behind Mila Rose. Grimmjow's eyes squinted at Tia. Red rays of energy came from around Grimmjow's hand like he was powering up. Tia frowned then began to walk away and Grimmjow held back his energy. As Tia passed Grimmjow, she stopped behind him as her fracción went ahead.

"The only reason I'm leaving is because lord Aizen does not want any of us to use our Cero indoors." Halibel stated and Grimmjow snorted. "Remember that you are only ranked sixth compared to my rank of three." Halibel exited with her fracción.

"Way to go Grimmjow." Yylfordt celebrated.

"Yeah, you sure showed her." D Roy joined as well.

"Hah, sure. She's just too obedient to Aizen is all." Grimmjow said.


	18. Chapter 18

Nina looked up at the clock, half an hour until the bell will ring and Grimmjow was coming to pick Nina up today. It was a little embarrassing when he dropped her off this morning, he went around the classroom looking at things that they don't have in Hueco Mundo. For example, the globe. Grimmjow looked at it and seemed to enjoy spinning it around on its axis until he spun it so fast that it broke. Same went with the teachers chair with the adjustable height. He broke that too going up and down too much. The classroom was basically ram shacked now. Miss Ochi as well as other students were shocked to find their classroom in such a mess. The whole class spend an hour in the morning just cleaning everything up. Nina felt something poke her shoulder.

"Hey Nina, wanna do something after class today?" Shinji asked pervertedly just before he shouted from shock.

"No talking during a lecture." Miss Ochi said after throwing a piece of chalk at Shinji. Nina smirked while looking back at him.

"That'll be my answer too." She whispered. Suddenly there was an explosion. It took Nina a moment to realize that it was right in her classroom. Grimmjow casually walked through a hole that he had just created in the wall.

"Time to go." He said impatiently. Nina stood up.

"But class isn't over for another half an hour." Nina shouted.

"I don't care, I'm bored." He replied.

"Then you're just going to have to wait. You can't just go around making holes in the walls, haven't you ever heard of a door?" She yelled back. Students looked in shock back and forth between the hole and Nina. They didn't know what was weirder, the hole in the wall that came out of nowhere or the fact that Nina was randomly shouting.

"Is something wrong Nina?" Miss Ochi asked. Nina blushed.

"Uh, no. Everything is all right." Nina began to panic as Grimmjow walked towards her. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out. "Hey, what are you doing? You can't just drag me out like this." Nina shouted as she left the classroom. Grimmjow let her go once they were outside the school. "What is wrong with you Grimmjow? You just can't drag people out of class; they can't see you so you're making me look like a total nut case!"

"I was bored. You were in there for almost six hours; I thought I would be nice and take you outta there early."

"Nice, you were being nice? That was critical information for an upcoming exam that I am now missing."

"You're welcome." Was all he said. Nina fumed.

"Just take me home, now?" She said between her teeth.

"Easy, there's nothing to be so worked up about." He said while unzipping a portal. Nina said nothing else.

"You are such an idiot." Nina stomped as the portal was opening.

"Ah, welcome home, Nina." Aizen said as an angry Nina stomped up to him.

"Give me someone other than Grimmjow; I'm never letting him pick me up on Thursday's again." Nina pointed to Grimmjow who stood there rolling his eyes.

"What seems to be the problem Grimmjow?"

"So I picked her up a little early and she freaks out at me."

"Not only that, you completely embarrassed me in front of my class and ram shacked the place. He dragged me out in front of everybody who can't see him so he makes me look like a total loser."

"Is that true?" Aizen calmly asked. Grimmjow only nodded. "Very well, I will deal with this mater later." Nina frowned at Grimmjow. "Nina, how would you like to become somebody's fracción?"

"A what?"

"Fracción, like someone's apprentice."

"Why would I need to do that?" She asked.

"It's mainly for self defence. We wouldn't want anything happening to our dear Nina now would we?" Aizen smirked his usual uncomforting smirk that gave Nina the chills.

"Well I guess so, if it will give me something to do in this place."

"Wonderful." Aizen's smirk widened. "You will be paired up with Wonderweiss in a match to test your raw abilities." Nina looked behind her and seen a weird boy with vivid purple eyes drooling behind her. This made her flinch. "We will begin this later in the week but go now and rest up." As Nina began to walk away, Aizen spoke once again. "Oh and Nina, since you've been such a pleasant addition to our group, I'm extending you're freedom on Mondays. Feel free to do what you want in the world of the living. Hang out with your friends and get to know them. However, Ulquiorra will be picking you up at 5 o'clock behind your school seems how nobody will be around by that time."

"Thanks..." She said wondering what Aizen was thinking to give such an evil smile. When she turned around to walk away, she got a glance at that boy Wonderweiss again. He stared back at her and appeared to have no thoughts processing through his head as drool rolled down his chin. Nina tried to hide her look of disgust as she walked past him then past Grimmjow to exit the throne room.

As she walked down the white hallways of Las Noches, she could hear her heals clicking on top of the marble flooring. More clicks gave her a sense of distance that she had put between the throne room. She decided that she was hungry and wanted something to eat before she put her school books away. She passed many arrancars on her way to the kitchen, every one of them had a mask or remains of a mask and each one had a hollow hole, some seen and some places not seen at first glance. Despite the weirdness of living in this place, Nina was getting used to it and still not liking it. Once she got to the kitchen, she realized that the usual arrancar that was working kitchen duty was not there. She looked around the room and realized that she was the only one there. Taking liberty, she opened up the fridge as well as many cupboards to find that everything that the arrancars eat is garbage.

"What is wrong with this place? There's no decent food." She shouted slamming the fridge door shut. Nina turned around to find Halibel leaning against the door frame with her arms folded across her unusually large chest. Nina scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously.

"If you hate our food so much, why don't you make some of your own?" She said in almost a threatening tone.

"I can't. I wouldn't classify any of this as food where I come from. It's all... kinda like something that you would expect aliens to eat." Nina blurted out without thinking. Halibel rose from the door frame and walked over to Nina. Nina's heart rate picked up as she got closer and closer to her. Halibel looked into the fridge.

"It's what I'm used to." She said slamming the door shut without using much force at all. She walked back to the door frame and turned around to look at Nina. "Next time you're in the world of the living, you should pick up what you call food and make us something for a change. I'd look forward to it." When Nina turned around to face Halibel, she was gone.

"Maybe I will." Nina whispered. Deciding that there was nothing worth eating, Nina walked back to her room and began training there just her basic punches and kicks. She was no karate master; she didn't even know any taekwondo. All she could do was punch, kick and scream and that's about it for her self defence though she figured that she wouldn't need to train too hard if she was up against that boy with autism. Nina felt confident that she could easily win the battle and become somebody's fracción.


	19. Chapter 19

Nina had just finished school and had a nice afternoon with her friends for a change since it was Monday and Aizen had granted her extra hours to stay in the world of the living. Was he doing this for his own purpose or was he really just granting Nina something that she wished. For a change, she appreciated it but she didn't think that it was a gift of a kind heart. Ichigo had invited Nina to join him, Orihime, Renji and Rukia for a drink at the diner where Hanataro works at. He had a break so he joined them. The laughs that they all shared made her feel like everything was going to be alright. She felt herself looking over at Hanataro more than she usually does. He looked so happy and he always treated her so well even though she did not feel like a good friend to him. Nina smiled gently at him while he talked.

Nina sighed as she walked around the side of the school. The sun seemed like it was setting earlier and earlier these days. Strange, Ulquiorra wasn't there. He was usually there very early waiting for her. Part of her was concerned but the other half decided to enjoy this time alone though she wasn't really alone. There was a gang of four guys hanging around sitting on a bench not too far from her. They looked as if they were a little older than high school years. It reeked of smoke from them smoking something. Probably weed. They wore black leather jackets, ripped jeans, heavy chains and facial piercings. They looked like the kind that would get into trouble anywhere they go. Nina leaned against the school wall as she waited for Ulquiorra to come pick her up. It was hard to enjoy with those boys being so loud and foul mouthed. Nina looked at the outdoor school clock. 5:10. Ulquiorra was 10 minutes late. She began to worry.

"Hey!" Someone called. Nina lifted her head and it seemed like one of those boys was talking in her direction. "Yeah, you." He got up along with his companions and walked towards her. This guy was definitely the leader of the posy. This one had long dark brown hair gelled to one side to reveal his cross earring on his left ear. The tips of his hair were an unnatural green colour. Nina nervously backed up but a wall was obstructing her path to freedom. The leader stopped with his companions behind him and smirked at her. "Heh, you're kinda cute, puppet. What do you say on getting our own place for a while hm?" Nina lifted her arm and put it in front of her ready for anything.

"I don't think so." She said scared. The three guys behind the leader laughed but the leader's grin turned into a scowl.

"What? Nobody says no to me. Pin her down boys." They did not hesitate to jump on top of her, one on each arm and one at the legs. The leader, with a bling pendant that spelled 'Frankie', bent down and kneeled on the ground. "I don't think that you understand. When somebody says no to me, they only get me mad and when I get mad, I make sure that I get what I want." Nina frowned at them and freed one of her legs and kicked the leader in the head. Frankie swore at her then whaled his arms at her stomach triggering a nerve to bring up a mixture of spit and blood out of her mouth as she screamed from the pain. "Shut up." Frankie shouted and as soon as he said that, one of his comrades put his hand over Nina's mouth so that she couldn't be heard by anyone. She tried desperately to escape but their grip on her was so strong. She tried to move her head back and forth to get some air causing her braids to fall out of their messy strands. Nina screamed for Ulquiorra's name in her head but he wasn't coming. "No one's here to save you." Frankie tore off her hoodie ripping it to shreds. Tears came out of her eyes as her favourite hoodie was being ruined. Next, he grabbed for her pendants, two simple yet elegant white gold rings linked to each other, and yanked it off of her chain. This really made Nina scream loud, so loud that somebody might actually to hear her.

"No! Noooo!" Nina repeated many times tears now pouring out of her eyes. Again, Frankie began to beat on her again to shut her up, eventually she lost all air in her lungs from being punched that she struggled to breathe. Frankie began lifting Nina's shirt past her stomach but soon got launched off of Nina. The other three boys stared at Frankie who was lying on the ground with a puzzled look on their faces. They turned their heads and Ulquiorra walked towards them. Frankie wiped the blood off of his cheek from a rock that Ulquiorra had thrown at him.

"Who the h*** are you." Frankie said.

"Ulquiorra." Nina squeaked out of breath.

"What makes you think that you can interfere with my fun, huh?" Frankie shouted again.

"Let her go." He said in his usual monotone voice.

"Why don't you come make me?" Frankie threatened. Ulquiorra cocked his head in that direction and proceeded with his hands in his pockets. Frankie choked that Ulquiorra responded, scrambled to get up and held his fists out. Ulquiorra still walked over and then Frankie decided to charge and swung his arms at Ulquiorra. Easily dodging the attack, Ulquiorra elbowed Frankie in the back of the neck to knock him out. The others were shocked at Ulquiorra's power and seem him coming for them so they got up and ran away. Nina lay on the ground still half-crying with her clothes rearranged slightly. She turned over on her side and held the broken chain close to her heart.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"It's gone. It's gone." She whimpered. Ulquiorra kneeled down and sat Nina up. "My parents' wedding rings are gone. They were all I have left of them."

"Why do you weep for a piece of trash?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"They're not trash. It's not just the object that is important but the memories it holds."

"Memories?"

"They're gone." Nina wept. They sat there for a while before an arrancar unzipped a portal open before them.

"Lord Aizen is expecting for your return." The arrancar said. Ulquiorra looked back at Nina and helped her up then walked through the portal. Ulquiorra, not bothering to report to Aizen, took Nina straight to the medical room to get checked up on. She only had minor cuts and bruises from the experience that were quickly treated to prevent infection from forming then she sat on the bed for a while looking at the floor. Ulquiorra watched her as she sat quietly as he found her reaction rather interesting. He did not understand how a mere item could trigger Nina's emotions like that but he figured that those rings must have far more value that what he had realized. He never really noticed her pendant before but he now grew curious as to what their powers were.

"What is the importance of those memories that you hold from those rings?" Ulquiorra asked confused but his voice revealed none.

"Those belonged to my parents. When I was 8 years old, my parents disappeared but my older brother was able to find their wedding rings so he gave them to me so that when I grew older, I would always have my parents with me even though they were not physically with me. Those rings always held memories of the times I spent with them both good and the bad. Later, when I was in my early teens, I found out that they were shot and murdered. My heart ached so badly." Nina clutched the spot where the rings would have dangled. "It felt like I had lost my parents all over again. But my brother... reminded me that these rings will always keep my parents in my heart."

"Your parents are in your heart?" Ulquiorra's eyebrows lifted ever so slightly, but Nina's head was glued to the ground that she missed it.

"Not really, the memories of them are in my heart. Those memories feel like they are still here with me. I miss them so much." Nina said. There was a moment of quietness. "I'd give anything to have them back." Ulquiorra silently gasped then there was another moment of silence.

"If I were to disappear, I would be in your heart?" Nina felt a blush creep onto her face and her heart rate sped up. She struggled to look back at him but Ulquiorra didn't even seem bothered by the fact that she was having trouble answering the question, he was more curious as to what was going on inside her heart.

"Yes... yes you would." She finally said blushing even more. "I have memories with you so you will always be in my heart."

"If memories are in your heart, why do you need those pendants from your parents?"

"Those pendants are one of the many things that remind me of my parents. I just always carry that around."

"I see." Silence came about the room. After a moment, Nina got up from the examination table. "Will you be alright?" Ulquiorra asked.

"For now. I just hope that I will heal up soon before Aizen tests my strength." Nina sighed. She walked over to the door frame then turned around with a soft smile. "By the way," Ulquiorra's emerald green eyes gazed into her sapphire blue eyes. "Thank you... for saving me." She quietly said.

"You're welcome." He said back. Nina was surprised to hear Ulquiorra say this, in fact, it caused a burst of heat to flame within her chest and began to burn hotter and hotter until she smiled again before walking away.


	20. Chapter 20

Nina decided to take Tuesday off from school for a change; she wasn't feeling like herself and was still depressed. She spent it by sitting on her window ledge looking out at the white desert; white sand dunes, white trees that glow in the silver moonlight. If the sun came out, which it didn't, the sky would probably be white too; it would almost be more boring in the daylight. She still didn't completely feel at home at Hueco Mundo but that would change with time. The thing that she loved about the place was the outdoors. Even though everything out there was practically the same shade, she found it beautiful and almost magical. She wondered what it would be like for her to continue to live at home. She was kind of happy that she didn't so that she wouldn't have to face with her brother on the rare occasions that he came home.

She sighed letting her mind drift from topic to topic. She found herself thinking on the event that took place yesterday with those boys. Every time she pictured Ulquiorra coming to save her, her heart beat picked up for a moment before she stopped herself from thinking too much. But then again, he was almost out of character saving her life then even saying "you're welcome" to her. Did he save Nina of his own free will or did he get ordered to do so from Aizen? The whole time his emotions never changed so it was hard for her to tell. There was a knock at the door and Nina was surprised to see that Ulquiorra was the source of that knock. He never knocks. She felt herself blush as she looked in his eyes.

"Ulquiorra." Nina said.

"I heard that you haven't gone to the World of the Living today." He started.

"I haven't been feeling well."

"Are you sick?"

"No, my heart's not feeling well." She said and he went quiet for a moment.

"When a human's heart hurts, what does it take to make it well again?" Ulquiorra asked trying to dig for more information on the human heart.

"Sometimes things can make it better, sometimes events. In this case, it will just take time to restore it to what it once was."

"Time? How much time?" He asked, Nina shook her head.

"I don't know. It could be a day, it could be weeks or it could be hurting forever. It depends on the person's life."

"A heart is well when a heart is content." He said remembering his knowledge of his past conversations with Nina. She smiled shortly.

"That's one way of looking at it." She said before looking back outside. Ulquiorra turned is gaze from her eyes to the outside desert with a thought forming in mind. "Is that why you never smile, Ulquiorra, because you do not have a heart?"

"I don't smile because there is no reason to." He bluntly stated.

"Come on, there are many reasons to smile..." She paused after realizing that she just smiled then her face turned serious again. "I guess that explains why other arrancars smile. It's not that they can't. They can in fact, you just chose not to."

"Exactly."

"That's almost sad." She said. "I think you have emotions. It's just harder to see in you but I think that they are there." Ulquiorra, once again, shifted his gaze from Nina's eyes to the desert.

"Nina." Ulquiorra started. Nina blushed, this was the first time that she heard him say her name. What was he thinking? "I want to show you something."

"O-ok." She said in a questioning tone. She lifted herself off of the window ledge and waited for Ulquiorra to lead but instead what he did surprised her even more. He kneeled down on the floor.

"Jump on." He said. Nina, not knowing whether she should go with it or not, decided to climb on his back. Her heart beat picked up once she wrapped her arms around his neck and nearly had a heart attack once he lifted her legs off of the floor by linking his arms under them. "Hang on." Before Nina got a chance to say anything, he jumped off the ledge and hovered for a few metres before landing on the sandy ground with Nina screaming nearly the whole way down. Once he landed, he stabilized himself. "Are you alright?" He asked making sure that Nina was still alive. She nodded then he dashed off and ran as fast as he could skipping across the white sand mountains for what felt like miles but was really only about a minutes run. Nina looked behind her and it seemed like Las Noches wasn't getting any smaller. Not too much later, Ulquiorra stopped then lowered his knees to the ground for Nina to climb off. Nina looked up at the giant starless sky and gasped.

"Hoa... It's... it's beautiful." Nina whispered. Even though she had been here before with Hanataro, it felt like so long ago so she lost the feeling of what it was really like. She took off her shoes and buried her bare feet in the ground. "It's been so long that I forgot what it was like out here." She smiled half twirling around. "I actually feel like..." She stopped facing away from Ulquiorra drawing her arms against her chest while looking up. "I'm free."

"Does that make you happy?" Ulquiorra finally asked.

"Yes."

"Such a simple thing can make you happy. It's as if all of your previous sadness has melted away." He said. Nina's eyes softened as she smiled at him.

"For the moment." She lifted her head. "Thank you so much... for turning my sadness into happiness, Ulquiorra." Ulquiorra dug his hands into his pockets.

"You're welcome." He replied. Nina walked over to a tree. It was completely white like everything else here and had no leaves on it. Nina gasped as she looked closer at it. It reflected the moons light. "Those trees are not like yours in the World of the Living. They are not made of wood at all, in fact, they are crystal. That is why they reflect the light."

"So that explains it. There's no way something like this could ever grow in the World of the Living."

"Yes, these trees are really just the top of giant trees that grow deep within the undergrounds of Hueco Mundo."

"Are you serious? So these are just the branches."

"Correct."

"That's so amazing." Nina said running her fingers along a thin twig. After a moment, she turned back around then lay down to stare up at the starless sky. "How come there aren't any stars in this sky?"

"That's because that this is not a planet apart of a galaxy. It is simply a world of its own. The moon, however, is the only other object floating out by itself. It's source of light is from all of the reishi that it gives off, unlike in your world." Ulquiorra said sitting down right next to Nina almost right up against her.

"In my world, the moon's light comes from the reflection of the sun that radiates itself back to the face of the earth. I remember learning that from years ago. I've always kind of liked astronomy. I was just fascinated by the night sky since I was a little girl. One year at Christmas, my brother..." Nina looked down and went silent. Ulquiorra watched her eyes as they looked away from the sky. She sighed then looked back up. "That's not important." She finally said. "This moon is brighter than the earth's moon."

"So it is." Ulquiorra agreed.

"Ulquiorra?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going against Aizen's orders... by bringing me out here?" Nina asked looking over to Ulquiorra's eyes. He stayed emotionless and quiet for a moment before answering.

"I am."

"Why, I thought that you'd never do that."

"I want to know what it is like to be with someone that has a heart. I want to know what a heart is like, what makes it happy and what makes it sad and how other emotions can develop through a heart."

"That's a little hard to study."

"How so?"

"Every human heart is different and gets emotions on different levels of events. Some people are like you and don't show their emotions a whole lot but that doesn't mean that they don't have any. It's just harder for someone to see them."

"I see."

"Just look at it this way; my heart is one of many kinds of hearts but as long as you keep studying one heart, you can unlock the secrets behind many hearts."

"Your heart..." Ulquiorra started, "is the most interesting to me." Nina gasped with a heavy blush sweeping across her face. Ulquiorra seemed to take notice of this and watched her not move for the longest time. He silently studied her before looking up to the sky. Unexpectedly, Nina lay down on the sand and placed her head in Ulquiorra's lap. At first he felt uncomfortable and didn't know how to respond but soon he decided to allow her to stay there.

"You're sweet, Ulquiorra." She finally said smiling up to him. "You don't know how that makes me feel."

"How does that make you feel?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Uh, well." Nina was shocked that Ulquiorra asked her this. "It makes me feel special... for once." She half whispered the end part as her eyes grew heavy. "A good part of my life I have been alone with my parents gone. My brother had to work a full time job that requires a lot of time spent away from home. I would maybe see him once every three months just so that he could support us. When I came to Japan, I met Hanataro who took away most of my sadness. Coming here to Hueco Mundo was hard because I felt like it took away everything else I have gotten to know." Nina stopped for a moment and bit her bottom lip while Ulquiorra waited for her to continue. She inhaled then exhaled. "It just feels good to get out of there for a while and get away from everything. That's why I'm happy that you brought me out here." She turned her head from his lap to smile at him. Ulquiorra almost gasped, once she had smiled at him, he got a really strange feeling around his hollow hole. He felt his temperature around his hollow hole rise to a warm feeling; not hot, but warm like the warmth that the sun gives off. He wondered what it was and was almost panicking on the inside but on the outside he remained just as emotionless as always. Lifting his arm he placed his hand around his neck right where his hollow hole was to feel the warmth on the tips of his fingers. After a moment it cooled returning to normal state. Ulquiorra looked back down at Nina noticing that she was soundly asleep, her chest rising and falling to the rhythm of her breath. He lifted his hand up and was about to place it on Nina but something pulled him back for a moment. Was it nervousness? Ulquiorra ignored those feelings and placed his hand on her shoulder then his hollow hole grew warm again.


	21. Chapter 21

When Nina woke up in the morning, she was surprised to find herself in her room at Las Noches. Alarmed, she quickly sat up recalling the last thing that she did which was talking with Ulquiorra outside of Las Noches. Nina wondered if he carried her all the way back here by himself then ran out of her room down the halls in search of him. She looked in the meeting room, the throne room, kitchen then finally she went to his room. Right before she got to his shut door, she called out for him and then opened the door only to find his unmade bed with no one there. Her shoulders fell and her hands dropped from the door frame after seeing the empty room. Yammy just happened to walk by and noticed Nina standing at Ulquiorra's door frame.

"If you're looking for Ulquiorra, he's gone to the World of the Living of a request from Lord Aizen." Yammy said. Nina turned to him.

"You mean he's on a mission?" Nina asked and Yammy nodded. She dashed away from Yammy do the throne room to question Aizen. Nina hopped that Ulquiorra wasn't punished for taking her out of Las Noches last night. She slammed the door open to the throne room giving all eyes onto her. Most of the Espada was there except for Ulquiorra. "Aizen." Nina called.

"Ah, good morning Nina. You seem to look better." Aizen said casually.

"Where's Ulquiorra?"

"He's gone to the World of the Living for the day to exterminate some unwanted pests."

"How come no one came to take me to school today?"

"Ulquiorra came by last night and said you still weren't feeling well so I thought you could stay home today." Aizen said. Nina's stomach tied into a knot once he said 'home'. This was not Nina's home. Nina looked over once hearing someone laugh.

"Ahahaha, and why are we so worried about Ulquiorra my pet?" Nnoitora asked.

"It seems like our little Nina has taken a liking towards the cold Ulquiorra." Szayel laughed.

"It's not a liking. It's just that he was the one assigned to look after me so I was wondering where he was." Nina said defending herself but Nnoitora and Szayel both snickered.

"It doesn't matter where Ulquiorra went. He'll be back when he gets back." Grimmjow said with and obvious disgust towards Ulquiorra.

"Nina, are you prepared to fight against Wonderweiss later today?" Aizen said changing the subject.

"Uh, I think so. Is he alright with it?" Nina asked looking over at the autistic boy. Everyone laughed.

"Oh don't worry, he'll be ready whenever you are." Szayel laughed with everyone.

"Well I'm ready now. Just let me go get dressed." She said with a serious tone to her voice. When she turned around and left the throne room, she could hear everyone in there burst out with laughter. Why were they laughing so much? Was something different about this Wonderweiss kid? He just looked so less than ordinary it was hard picturing this guy being anything amazing.

When Nina got back to her room she took out her normal braids letting her hair fall out then tied it up into a high ponytail and secured it with a fabric covered elastic letting her bangs fall out to frame her face. She took off her pyjamas and put on some yoga pants, socks and runners then finished it off by putting on a white tank top and zipping up a light sweater overtop. She examined herself in the full body mirror and sighed nervously. She kept on wondering where Ulquiorra was and when he will be back but her upcoming battle was more than enough to give her own share of troubles.

Nina was finally ready and went on her way to the indoor training room to get ready for her match up against Wonderweiss. She felt her stomach turn from nervousness but what was there to be nervous about? He couldn't be all that hard to beat. But then again, the Espada would probably be watching especially Aizen. Nina opened the double doors that lead to the downstairs of the indoor training room. In the middle stood her foe Wonderweiss and on the balcony was the Espada and Aizen himself along with Gin and Kaname. Nina walked to the center of the room and faced the balcony watching Aizen's uncomforting smirk.

"I'm glad you've made it Nina. This battle will determine your strength and who's fracción you will become. Fight to the best of your abilities... Now please, continue." Aizen said. Nina now turned to Wonderweiss and lifted her arms to put up her guard but the boy stood there with his gaze focused on a single unknown point. "Oh and by the way, you may choose a Zanpakuto from the side over there." Aizen interrupted pointing to a messy pile of blades. Nina walked up to it and swung a few before choosing one by random then continued back to her same position. "Alright... begin." Once again, Nina rose her defence by bringing her sword up but Wonderweiss looked around the room as if he had never seen it before. Nina was confused but it didn't stop her from losing her focus.

"What is she waiting for?" Gin asked not loud enough for Nina to hear.

"She's a cautious one." Aizen replied.

"This is going to get interesting." Szayel stated and Nnoitora laughed after him.

"She doesn't have a chance." Grimmjow smirked.

Nina observed Wonderweiss and he didn't even seem to be aware that he was in a battle, she felt sorry that she had to attack a harmless being. After a moment of regret, Nina charged towards Wonderweiss both hands tightly gripping the handle of the sword and took a swing at him. Nina was flabbergasted as she missed him. He had kneeled down on the ground drawing in some loose terrain laughing at his creativity. Nina swung again and missed then again. Getting annoyed, Nina used her foot to kick Wonderweiss down onto his back by the hollow hole then fired her sword at him. Wonderweiss immediately saw this as a threat then opened his mouth. Once Nina saw that he was finally reacting, she stopped her sword. Wonderweiss shot a purple cero from his mouth nearly missing Nina's head. Everyone roared with laughter as Wonderweiss power had been awakened. Wonderweiss got back up and grabbed Nina by the head and threw her many metres until the wall stopped her. She slid down the wall in pain with blood dripping from shrapnel that cut her skin. When she opened her eyes, she gasped seeing Wonderweiss walking towards her with a different look in his eyes. It was clear that he wanted to exterminate Nina. It was as if he were a computer that is automatically programmed to do a specific job the user gives him and does not quit until it is fulfilled. Once again, he opened his mouth and quickly powered up for his cero then released it. Nina watched as it headed straight for her and just before it hit, she put up her arms to minimize its damage. Obviously it made a bang but was strange is that Nina was completely unharmed. Everyone gasped.

"What happened?" Halibel asked.

"It seems that Nina released a tremendous amount of spiritual pressure just before the cero hit her. She somehow made her spiritual pressure turned into a shield." Aizen said.

"I've never seen that before." Gin said. For once, his smirk faded from his face only to become a surprised expression. Nina opened her eyes and gasped wondering what happened.

"Bet she can't do that again." Grimmjow snickered. Once the dust settled, Wonderweiss stood there and noticed that his target had not been eliminated so he opened his mouth again preparing another cero.

"I've seen enough." Aizen said snapping his fingers. Gin and Kaname jumped off the balcony and ended up and the side of Wonderweiss. He fired his cero but this time it hit Nina, vitally injuring her body. Gin and Kaname took Wonderweiss away before he could kill Nina and she lay there fighting to keep her eyes open. Everyone left the room but as Nina's vision began to fade, she noticed a blur walking towards her. Before she had a chance to look at it, her eyes closed but she was still conscious. She felt as if she were being lifted off the ground. Was she dead and now flying her way to heaven? No, she should be able to see if that was happening. Next thing that she knew, water was being sprinkled on her as she felt herself descending towards the ground. She felt cold as she grew wetter. It sounded like rain and felt like the night time's coldness on her chilled skin. She heard footsteps getting quieter and managed to open her eyes then looked over. The blur got slightly clearer as the figure passed through a garganta to head back to Hueco Mundo. It was one of the Espada's fracción but what was his name? Why did he bring her out here? Was it to let her die? Nina looked up at the rainfall as it stung her fresh wounds. She panted as her vision fluctuated

"Ul... quiorra." She whispered calling out for help. "Am I going to die here?"


	22. Chapter 22

Nina suddenly woke up with a big gasp as if she woke up from the worst nightmare. After doing so, she felt a sharp pain flood through her body.

"Oh Nina, you're awake." A familiar voice said with concern. Nina saw that it was Hanataro. He quickly got up and rushed to her side. Nina coughed.

"Hanataro, where am I?" She asked.

"You're in the hospital. My boss actually found you lying in the ground in the parks basketball court. He recognized that you were my friend so he brought you hear and told me that you were injured. I'm so happy you're awake."

"I was... in battle." Nina recollected.

"A battle, with who?"

"An arrancar."

"An arrancar? Does that mean that they escaped to come into the world of the living?" Hanataro asked. This question shocked Nina. He wasn't supposed to know that she was in Hueco Mundo or that she had anything to do with them so she had better think of something to say and fast.

"Uh no I mean I ran into a car... while it was moving." Nina lied in a hurry.

"But a car couldn't leave this kind of damage. You have burn marks on your body." Nina looked at her bandaged up torso. That must have been the spot where the cero came in contact with.

"That's all I remember was running into a moving car."

"You're injuries were life threatening if remained untreated but you've stabilized now." Hanataro said with relief. Nina sighed.

"Hey Nina, glad you're awake." Ichigo said coming through the door. Orihime, Renji, and Rukia came through as well.

"Hey guys." Nina said. Once she noticed that Yumichika was there as well, she froze. He didn't really act like a freak like usual, maybe that's because he wasn't in a competition with Shinji. In fact, his calmness really surprised Nina.

"Are you alright, Nina?" He simply asked in the most normal way she had ever heard him talk.

"I think so."

"We came as soon as we heard." Orihime said folding her hands together. Nina looked around the room hoping to find Ulquiorra there but then she remembered that he wouldn't be seen with any other human or soul reaper. Her face saddened.

"Hm, what's the matter Nina?" Rukia asked.

"Oh it's nothing." She said before laying back against her pillows. "It's just so annoying to be injured like this."

"Yeah, I guess you can't be on our team in PE. We're starting basketball soon." Renji said.

"Neeeeeeeeeeenaaaaaaa!" A voice yelled down the hallway then Shinji burst through the door. "Nina, I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright? Are you going to live? You have to because I can't live without you." Nina sighed with a face palm.

"I was worried about you more, that's why I got here sooner to see how you were doing." Yumichika said going back to his familiar annoying self.

"Well I stopped to buy her flowers but they were all out before I got there." Shinji said back.

"What the, this room has too many visitors." A nurse shouted.

"Take the two loud ones out." Ichigo closed his eyes and pointed at Yumichika and Shinji as the two scrapped with one another. The nurse grabbed them by the ear and forced them out.

"I'll come back as soon as I can." They both said in unison as they were forced out the door. Orihime closed it then saluted.

"Thank goodness there gone."

"You don't need that kind of trouble after you just woke up from an accident." Rukia stated.

"No question." Nina said eyeing the door.

"So when do you think that you'll come back to school?" Ichigo said parking himself against the wall.

"Yeah, you've missed the past couple of days. Everybody has been worried for you." Orihime added.

"Uh—" Nina began.

"Nina probably won't be ready to go back for maybe a couple of weeks. An injury like this takes time to heal." Hanataro interrupted. Nina looked out the window not realizing how dark and rainy it was. She looked at the clock and it read 8:00.

"Well we should get going now. Miss Ochi gave us a lot of homework that we still haven't done." Ichigo waved.

"Yeah, gotta get it done." Renji added.

"See ya later Nina." Orihime said.

"Get well soon." Rukia joined. They all waved then headed out the door leaving Nina alone with Hanataro. Nina's eyes softened as she smiled but they widened once she smelled a sweet scent. She turned over and seen a bouquet of orchids.

"Hanataro, did you get those for me?" Nina asked. He smiled and nodded shortly after. "They're beautiful. How did you afford those?"

"Nothing's too expensive for you." Hanataro blushed. Nina smiled.

"Thank you, Hanataro." She said but her smile soon faded. "How long was I here for?"

"About a day. You woke up surprisingly quickly for your kind of injuries." Hanataro answered. Nina gasped. Ulquiorra should have been back at Hueco Mundo but he probably won't find out that she was here of all places. What was she thinking? Here she was back in the World of the Living like she always wanted, with her best friend, and she was more worried about where Ulquiorra was. Why was she feeling like this? "Are you alright, Nina?" Hanataro's voice interrupted her thought.

"Yeah, I guess I'm feeling a little tired."

"Maybe I'll go home now. I think visiting hours are about up anyways." Hanataro said getting up and heading for the door.

"Hanataro." Nina stopped him and he looked back. "Thanks... for being here." She said sending a contagious smile over to him.

"Good night." He said sweetly. The door softly closed behind him. Nina sighed and felt depressed. Once again, she was left alone. Her wish was granted of being back in the World of the Living but only to be bound to a hospital bed for a few weeks of recovery. She looked around for entertainment but was disappointed that there was not a TV in sight.

"What kind of hospital is this? There's no TV in here." She complained. "Huh?" She noticed that the window was left open and she felt a icy draft flowing into the room. Instead of calling a nurse in to close the window, she figured that she could pass the time by doing it herself but the pain she was in made it quite an effort to even move her legs off of the bed. Goose bumps formed on her legs as she put her bare feet on the cold tile floor. She focused all of her strength to stand up and balance on the balls of her feet. "Why does this have to be so hard?" She groaned. She took one step towards the window, then another. Walking has become such a chore but the reward of a warm room kept Nina going. She stumbled over to the windowsill then struggled to close it. She put all of her limited strength into closing that window. "D***it, it's stuck." She shouted still pushing her whole bodyweight against her weak arms then it unexpectedly slid shut. She wiped her forehead before standing back up. "There, that otta do it." She said.

"You shouldn't be out of bed." A monotone voice said. Nina squeaked before falling to the floor knocking over the vase of flowers that Hanataro brought. Water spilt on her and the vase shattered on impact with the floor.

"Ulquiorra. You're back." Nina said relieved not focusing on the pain of the tumble.

"Oh my goodness, what happened here?" A nurse said hurrying to Nina's side. She helped her up and sat her on the side of her bed. "Are you alright?" She asked and Nina nodded. The nurse looked at the broken glass on the floor. "That's no good. I'll get you a new vase and clean this one up." The nurse left the room to return with a cloth, broom and dustpan. Nina looked at Ulquiorra puzzled as the nurse bent down on her knees to clean up the mess. She then got up and took out a new vase from a dresser in the same room then filled it up with fresh water from the connecting bathroom. "There we go, good as new." She said after placing the orchids back in the vase. "You're all wet. Here, I'll help you put these on." The nurse said getting unfashionable hospital garments from the same dresser. Nina blushed as the nurse undid the string in the back of her wet garments causing it to fall off from her. Thank goodness they left her bra on. The nurse slid the new clothing up Nina's sleeves then tied it at the back of her neck. "All finished. Now if you need anything, please push that button so that you don't hurt yourself." The nurse said closing the door behind her. Nina waited for the nurse's footsteps to quieten.

"Don't scare me like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack." She yelled.

"I heard your battle did not go well." He said changing the subject.

"Yeah, that boy Wonderweiss totally owned me. Aizen didn't even mention that I should be careful on my strategy around him."

"He was testing you and your ability to think quickly in a dangerous situation."

"I know that but he nearly killed me in the process." Nina fumed but stopped once she noticed something. "Hey, how are people, and that nurse, not able to see you?" Nina asked and Ulquiorra lifted his wrist. "What is that?"

"It's a bangle made of minerals that compress and hide spiritual pressure in the World of the Living to hide ones existence." Ulquiorra replied sounding professional in his answer. "I wear it whenever I'm here so that I do not cause unwanted uproar with other pieces of trash."

"That sure is a strange bracelet alright."

"Indeed it is."

"Aizen told me that he sent you out on a mission. What where you to do in the World of the Living?" Nina asked.

"That's none of your concern." Ulquiorra said coldly. Nina was surprised to hear him talk that way. It has been a while since Nina first realized how cold he could be. He hasn't changed.

"Oh, well, do you think that Aizen sent you away because he found out what you did the night before by taking me outside?"

"It's possible but highly unlikely. We were far enough from Las Noches that he couldn't have spotted us and I locked your door so he would assume that you were asleep. I took all the precautions necessary so that he wouldn't find out." He started then paused. "However, it isn't unlikely that Lord Aizen sends an Espada on a mission at all. It is completely normal of him."

"I see. It was just timing I guess." Nina's voice quietened as she thought out loud. "I'm happy you made it back alright." Nina smiled sincerely. Ulquiorra made a quiet gasp. As soon as he seen Nina smile like that at him, the rim of his hollow hole grew warm. Nina could tell something was troubling him as his eyes fell but were widened. His breathing pattern staggered. "Are you alright Ulquiorra?" Nina asked but he remained silent for a good minute.

"I... have to go now back to Hueco Mundo." He said tearing open the fabrics of space to reveal a garganta. He said nothing else, he didn't even look back as he stepped through and closed the gate behind him. Nina was shocked at his sudden change of self. It really wasn't like him. She sighed as she questioned what just happened.


	23. Chapter 23

Nina did nothing else than lay on her bed over the next few days. Time passed as she looked out the window then getting visitors every now and then. Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia and Renji came every day as a group but Hanataro came by himself and stayed with her for longer periods of time. She was relieved that Shinji and Yumichika had been temporarily ban from the hospital for causing too much commotion. Uryuu, Rangiku, Ikkaku, Toshiro and Chad came once with Ichigo and the others but that didn't last long because there were too many people to fit the small room she was being held captive in. Earlier today they all came by and dropped off a box full of get well cards from her classmates. She smiled reading some of the comments written on the cards. She could tell who put more effort into their card design and who were not really creative at all. She laughed once she looked at Rukia's get well card with the pictures that she drew on them. She seemed to like drawing teddy bears. The whole class pitched in some money to buy her a gift though it wasn't really ideal for a hospital. They got her an expensive brand of chocolates which was a nice break from bland hospital food.

Nina read all the cards over again as the sun began to set lighting the town with a gold radiance. The whole time a smile was plastered on her face. After a while she put a card down deciding that she had enough of reading them. She tucked the box under the hospital bed where it remained safe. She sat there for a moment wondering if she should close her eyes or not since there was nothing better to do. She had a feeling that Ulquiorra would be visiting her soon but her eyes soon grew heavy and she could no longer fight against them. She let herself drift off to sleep. How much time had passed was unknown until she woke up in the middle of the night. She looked over at the clock reading 2:35 am it was far too early to do anything but what was preventing her from falling back asleep was the urge to use the washroom. Once she opened her eyes again she seen his green ones shining back at hers.

"Ulquiorra, how long were you there?" She tiredly asked.

"Since 9:00." He said. Nina was shocked.

"You stayed here that whole time? Do you not get bored?"

"I came while you were sleeping but your sleep kept me here."

"My sleep?" Nina was puzzled.

"Yes. You're sleep is rather unusual. You were talking." Ulquiorra replied. Nina suddenly zapped awake as she hoped that she wasn't talking about him in her sleep.

"What was I talking about?" She quickly asked.

"You said 'I miss you' many times." Nina flushed with red once Ulquiorra said that but the darkness prevented him from seeing that. "Just because you were asleep doesn't mean that your emotions where at rest. You laughed once as well."

"That's funny, I can't even remember what I was dreaming about." She chuckled while blushing but that soon faded. "You have no idea how boring it is here. My friends brought me some get well cards so all I've been doing is reading them." Nina bent over the side of her bed and pulled out a cardboard box. She opened it up and gave Ulquiorra one to read. "Here, you can read them." Ulquiorra was unsure but he took a simply made one that was from Keigo. He sat down on Nina's bed and took in the words. They were simple just what was expected of the average male then Nina gave Rukia's to him. Once he seen the drawings on them his eyes widened. He gasped and he seemed like he was about to laugh but nothing came out. Nina would have been choked if he did laugh.

"Those drawings are interesting." He said.

"Yeah, I laughed so hard when I first seen that one. Here, read this one." Nina passed him another. He opened it up and read what Nina thought were the sweetest words from Orihime but to Ulquiorra it was just meaningless.

"You get emotions from reading these letters?" He asked and Nina nodded.

"These ones are happy feelings because everyone is wishing me well as I get better."

"What if you where to get one that wasn't wishing you well?"

"I probably would be really mad and tear that one up."

"I see."

"They are all from my friends so I don't think that there would be any nasty ones." She smiled.

"Your friends...?"

"Mh hm. Friends always try to make you happy even when you are sad. That what is so special about them." She said clutching a card that was in her hand then she put her hand over top of Ulquiorra's cupped hands. Ulquiorra fought against a gasp not expecting her to touch him. He looked down at her hand on his for a while before he decided that he liked it His hollow hole that he hid behind his zipped up coat felt even more so warm that it had been before. He had never shown Nina his hollow hole before but he figured that when you'd seen one you've seen them all. "You made me happy... when I was sad from losing my parents rings. That's just what a friend would do." Ulquiorra was silent for the longest time. Nina was unsure of what he was thinking so she slipped her hand off of his.

"This is what it feels like... to have a friend." He said closing his green eyes and squeezing his hands together between his legs. Nina thought for the slightest moment, the corners of Ulquiorra's lips pulled up but it was just her imagination. Nina felt sorry for him that he did not have a friend but then again, he chose not to accept anyone as one so why did he value her as a friend? "What do friends do?"

"Well, friends do stuff together like ride bikes, walk to school, or even hang out like we are doing now. Hey I have an idea, you should come to school with me." Nina half shouted. "That way I can show you what we do there, and you can meet all of my other friends in person."

"Lord Aizen would not approve."

"Oh please, Ulquiorra, it will be so much fun." Nina begged. Ulquiorra looked into Nina's eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. They looked so hopeful that he could not resist.

"Very well." He said and Nina squealed.

"Oh thank you thank you." She smiled. "But you can't be seen by people can you?"

"Only by those who have strong spiritual pressure. Lord Aizen had Szayel construct each of us a hekikon; a false soul that makes me seen by everyone and live amongst the living as if I am one of them. It's the arrancar version of a soul reapers geigai."

"That you so much Ulquiorra, it really means a lot to me." She said as she jumped forward to embrace him into a hug. Ulquiorra's eyes dilated upon impact. He had never felt something like this before. He enjoyed her warm body up against his own. He would define this feeling as: pleasant. Nina pulled away with a wide smile on her face. "You've been so good to me, and I don't know how I can make you happy. You never smile."

"Your answering my questions about the human heart and human emotions are beneficial enough." He stated.

"Are you sure? That doesn't seem like very much but if there's anything that I can do just tell me okay?" Nina commanded and Ulquiorra nodded.

"Yes." He said softly. "You should get some rest. Lord Aizen has already decided who's fracción you're going to become."

"Do you know?"

"Yes."

"Who is it?"

"That's for Lord Aizen to say himself."

"You're no fun."

"Now you're mad?"

"I'm not mad. Friends sometimes joke around like that, they don't always mean everything they say. You can tell by their tone of voice." Nina responded then looked at the clock. "You're right. I'm dead tired too." She said before remembering something. Nina had so much fun talking with Ulquiorra that she forgot that she needed to use the washroom. "I'll be right back." She said slowly getting up. Her wounds have healed slightly so she was able to move faster. Ulquiorra wondered what she was doing but once Nina walked around the corner she gave a long sigh of relief. "Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." The toiled flushed after then she crawled back into bed after washing her hands. "Much better." She said closing her eyes. Ulquiorra stood up only to move a few metres away to sit back down on a nearby chair. Nina slit open one eye to see if he was still there. She felt really nervous with Ulquiorra sitting there watching her so she turned on her side but that changed nothing so she tossed back and forth until she threw off her sheets and sat up.

"Is something wrong?" Ulquiorra asked completely clueless.

"I can't sleep with you watching me."

"Why not?"

"There's too much pressure to fall asleep and you can't do it like that." Nina said. Ulquiorra got up and walked over to the door with his hands in his pockets. He took one out to turn the door knob opening the door.

"If that's what you wish." He said opening the door. Just before he closed it he took one last look at her then left. Nina felt saddened.

"I didn't wish for that." She whispered before closing her eyes again.


	24. Chapter 24

"Good morning Nina." A squealing Orihime jumped on top of Nina nearly squeezing the lights out of her. Nina struggled to take a breath and just before she were to pass out, Orihime let go allowing oxygen to flow into her lungs stopping her from fainting. Nina breathed deeply before realizing that Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, and Uryuu where here as well as Orihime.

"Why are you guys all here so early?" Nina questioned.

"Figures that you would lose track of time when you're trapped in here. It's Saturday." Renji answered.

"And we're going to get you out of this place." Ichigo sang.

"We can't get her out of here, the nurses won't let us." Uryuu argued.

"Well just for the day at least." Rukia said.

"That's right. We checked with the nurses and everything is a go... just as long as you sit in a wheelchair." Orihime said stepping aside revealing one worn out dirty wheelchair that looked like some old person died in there.

"Ew, I'm not going in that thing. Some old man probably died in there." Nina shouted.

"It's the only one they had available." Rukia explained.

"It's either that or I'm gonna have to carry you." Ichigo said firmly.

"You don't need to tell me that twice, I'm not sitting in that."

"Good, here put on your clothes and call us when you're ready." Orihime said throwing some of Nina's clean clothes to her then she shoved everyone out of the room for her to change. Nina looked down at her clothes. It was sure nice that she didn't have to wear those ugly hospital robes for a change. She slipped on the clothes not wasting any time then called out for them to take her. Ichigo knelt down to put Nina on his back but a nurse stopped him and pointed to the wheelchair that Nina had to use. Nina shook her head and folded her arms across her chest.

"No way I'm not sitting on there." She protested. Orihime and Uryuu pushed her down and Nina began screaming and struggling to get off but they buckled her in tightly. "Ah no! It's wet! And it smells really bad. Guys get me out of here." Ichigo wheeled her down the hallway as fast as he could and once they were outside, he unbuckled her then threw her on his back and ran away with everyone else. A nurse ran after them yelling but never caught up.

"Good thinking Ichigo." Renji said and everyone else cheered but Uryuu.

"I don't know, that nurse sure looked mad."

"Don't worry about it. What can they do to us?" Ichigo said. Nina laughed as she was being abducted from the hospital. After running down a few blocks, they all stopped to catch their breath then continued walking.

"Hey where's everyone else?" Nina asked.

"They've gone back to the Soul Society by orders of the head captain." Rukia explained.

"I see." She began. "Hey, where are we going anyways?"

"To the Urahara shop. Urahara himself is making us lunch there." Orihime smiled.

"Who would have thought that Mr. hat n' clogs can cook." Ichigo thought out loud.

"I'm sure that Urahara has the help of Yuroichi and the others helping him." Rukia commented.

"Well well well. If it isn't my favourite clients. Hello Nina. How have you been feeling lately?" Urahara said opening the doors to his shop.

"Very well thank you." She said as Ichigo sat her down on a cushion next to the table.

"Excellent, excellent." He said waving his fan. "Now if you excuse me, I have to finish preparing today's menu." Urahara dashed away and everyone else took a seat at the round table.

"Sooo, how has school been?" Nina asked breaking the silence.

"Em, same old same old." Renji shrugged.

"Yumichika and Shinji haven't been fighting nearly as much as they do with you around." Orihime said. "Now with Yumichika gone back to the Soul Society, it has been really quiet."

"That's good. Maybe it will actually be nice to go back to school with one gone." Nina thought. After a few moments of talking and laughing together as friends, Urahara, Jinta, Ururu, Tessai and Yuroichi brought out a few dishes of food and plates with cutlery and set them all on the round table. Ururu passed around the dishes and Jinta passed around the cutlery.

"Alright everyone, dig in." Urahara said with his hands together in a praying gesture.

"Thank you for the food." Everyone sang before attacking the table of food set before them. Salads, sandwiches, fruit and vegetable platters and even dessert where set before them and did not last very long. The mountain of food shrunk as everyone took seconds and a few people thirds. Once finished, they leaned back in satisfactory.

"That was delicious. I didn't know that you were the cook Mr. Urahara." Orihime said wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Oh you know, I had a little help from a feminine touch believe me." Urahara smiled patting Yuroichi on the back. Yuroichi rolled her eyes.

"Let's just say that cooking isn't one of your stronger points Kisuke." She said folding her arms across her chest.

"Ah ha! I knew it." Ichigo said slamming his hand down on the table while standing up startling everyone in the room. He pointed his finger at Urahara. "I knew you weren't that good of a cook."

"Oh come on, Ichigo. Lighten up. Besides isn't it the thought that counts?" Urahara said waving his one hand.

"He's right Ichigo. There's nothing to get so worked up about." Rukia said.

"B-b-but. He's lying to us. He said that he was a great cook when he invited us over." Ichigo stammered. Urahara chuckled.

"Well, if you really wanted to taste my cooking, you may not be alive by tomorrow."

"Maybe we should just be grateful that Yuroichi even helped out in the kitchen." Uryuu said.

"No kidding." Renji added.

"Good bye Urahara." Everyone waved after a few hours of eating and visiting. Urahara, Yuroichi, Ururu, Jinta and Tessai all waved back.

"Good bye everyone. Take care Nina." Urahara waved back. Nina smiled at him and waved politely.

"Come on guys lets go." Ichigo said taking the lead. "We're gonna go have some fun at the lake." Everyone cheered. Once they arrived at the lake, Ichigo set Nina down on a park bench. Uryuu brought a Frisbee to play with so the guys started throwing it around but the girls sat and talked. Nina had a smile nearly the whole time that she was with her friends. She laughed a lot too but once when she lifted her head, she thought that she had seen Ulquiorra standing far away watching her but when she really focused, he vanished then her smile faded.

"What's wrong Nina?" Orihime asked from Nina becoming so quiet in conversation.

"Oh, it's... nothing. Oh?" Nina found a Frisbee floating onto her lap.

"Throw it here." Ichigo shouted and Uryuu waved for attention for the Frisbee to be passed to him. Nina totally ignored Ichigo and Uryuu and decided to pass it to Renji.

"Alright! Thanks Nina." He called when receiving the Frisbee. Nina smiled again but thought she had seen Ulquiorra a second time. Orihime and Rukia looked over in that direction too with their hands over their eyes to block the sunlight.

"What do you see there?" Rukia asked.

"Nothing. I thought that I seen someone I knew but it was just my imagination." Nina said watching kids swim in the refreshing lake. "That looks so refreshing."

"Did you want to sit on the dock and put your feet in?" Orihime asked. Nina shyly shook her head but Orihime didn't listen so she called the boys over to carry Nina to the dock then they all took off their shoes and socks, rolled up their pants and dunked their feet in the water. Orihime sat on one side of Nina and Ichigo on the other.

"Ah." They all said leaning back against their arms.

"This is the life." Renji said.

"You said it." Uryuu joined. They all went quiet for a moment enjoying the sweet breeze in the air and letting their feet move back and forth in the water.

"Thank you guys so much for taking me out of that depressing hospital." Nina leaned forward.

"No problem." The guys said.

"You're welcome." The girls said.

"You don't know how boring it is in there by yourself. I've been lucky to get lots of visitors though."

"It's what friends do." Ichigo said.

"You'll always be our friend." Orihime said.

"And don't you ever forget that." Renji added. Nina smiled so much that she thought that she felt small drops of tears forming at the corner of her eyes but she quickly wiped them away to hide it. She was always embarrassed crying in public, she just hated crying in general.

"Huh, were you crying Nina?" Uryuu asked. Nina only nodded.

"There's nothing to cry about." Rukia said.

"I know. I'm just so happy for a change." She said not getting any tears anymore. Just then, Rukia's cell phone rang and she flipped it open.

"This is not good. We've got a hollow in the vicinity of the lake." She said and everyone gasp.

"Here? But why now?" Ichigo complained.

"It doesn't matter. We have to do something." Uryuu said.

"I'm on it." Renji said transforming into a soul reaper. Nina watched Renji leave his geigai. With the help from Rukia's cell, Renji was able to quickly locate where the hollow was. It was close enough for the others to see. "There you are. Now roar, Zabimaru!" Renji jumped up and threw out his Zanpakuto and Nina was surprised how much it expanded and was very snakelike. Renji landed and rested his Zanpakuto. "That was easy." He said turning to face everyone. They all cheered for a moment.

"Renji look out." Rukia shouted. Renji turned around and found that the hollow had doubled. It split itself apart to make two of the same hollows.

"Oh great." Renji commented. "Roar, Zabimaru." He threw his sword at them again but they fell down and multiplied yet again for a total of four similar hollows.

"You're taking too long." Ichigo said transforming into a soul reaper as well.

"Hey I can take care of these guys myself."

"Well you're sure taking your time with it." Ichigo and Renji argued.

"You guys this is not the time to be fighting." Rukia shouted.

"Actually this is the perfect time to be fighting. Except they should be fighting against the hollows not against each other." Orihime pointed out.

"I think Rukia meant to say was argue." Nina said.

"It doesn't matter, they're not making any progress." Uryuu said deciding to help out after the hollow multiplied to eight hollows. Uryuu held out his hand then a blue light formed into a bow and arrows. "For the pride of the quincy." He said shooting out arrows at all eight hollows. They appeared to fall down and be dismembered but they rose again multiplying into a grand total of sixteen. They all looked up at the hollows.

"D***it." Ichigo said.

"Focus guys." Orihime called out.

"Orihime, you stay here and use your powers to protect Nina." Rukia commanded before turning into a soul reaper. Orihime nodded and activated her barrier in front of Nina. "Now die. Sode no shidayuki." Rukia used her Zanpakuto to take out a single hollow this time and it separated into two separate hollows again making them an army of 20.

"What are we going to do?" Uryuu pondered.

"Think guys." Rukia said.

"There's no time to think." Ichigo said and stupidly decided to attack them again making them 24. Suddenly, an idea popped into Nina's head.

"Wait a minute. Guys I think I have the answer."

"Lay it on me." Renji said.

"I've fought a boss like this on a video game and the only way to beat it is to have your team attack all of them at exactly the same time. Not one after the other."

"Will it work?" Uryuu questioned.

"I don't know, but it's worth a try." Ichigo said.

"Let's take a crack at it." Renji said.

"Go!" Uryuu said firing five arrows at once.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

"Roar Zabimaru!"

"Sode no Shidayuki."

Once they all attacked and landed back on the ground, the hollows had disappeared for good.

"Alright. I knew it would work." Renji said.

"Way to go Nina." Orihime celebrated.

"I knew it. Video games do come in handy once in a while." Ichigo said before reverting back to his human self. Renji and Rukia stepped back into their geigai.

"Never say that videogames are good for nothing." Nina said with her tongue out.

"Thanks for everything guys." Nina said after being put back into her bed at the hospital.

"Thanks for your help of defeating those hollows." Renji said.

"Yeah, we couldn't have done it without you." Ichigo said.

"It was no biggie. I'm just glad I could help." Nina said. Everyone said their good byes then Ichigo, Orihime, Renji, Rukia and Uryuu left the building leaving Nina by herself again only this time with the memories of a great day. Once the door closed behind them, someone stepped out from around the corner. Nina gasped in fear.

"Time to go back to Hueco Mundo." Grimmjow said.


	25. Chapter 25

"Time to go back to Hueco Mundo." Grimmjow said.

"B-but I'm not fully recovered yet." Nina argued.

"It doesn't matter." Grimmjow said before opening up a garganta. The familiar unzipping sound pierced through the air.

"I'm not going. I told you I haven't fully healed and I –"

"Oh you're coming alright." Grimmjow said as he walked forward and grabbed Nina by the wrist then he began to drag her through the garganta.

"Hey, let go of me." She said as she was being forced to walk through the gate. She returned to the familiar throne room of Las Noches but no one else was in there but her and Grimmjow. "Well that was stupid, there's no one here."

"Don't you want to get healed the faster way human?" Grimmjow asked. Nina stopped her complaining and listened to what he said for a moment. "Look, if you're going to let yourself heal without proper treatment from our medical field, you could be looking at weeks of recovery. Here you almost instantly recover."

"Okay first of all, why are you being nice to me? Second, why the h*** didn't you do that in the first place and third: someone just put me in the World of the Living to die there so how come I am being welcomed back by someone who hates me?" Nina ranted. Grimmjow smirked then laughed very heavily.

"Can't I be nice without someone questioning me?"

"Not with me around."

"Okay fine. I am doing orders from Aizen, are ya happy?"

"I knew it."

"And that guy that set you in the World of the Living only did that because our medical people were so booked up that Aizen thought it might be better to get you to your doctors first so that you don't die on us. That's his reasons and his alone." Grimmjow ranted back.

"I thought you said your medical field makes you heal almost instantly so how could they be booked up?"

"I don't know what they do there, I wasn't a medical arrancar for a reason."

"Fair enough." Nina nodded.

"Do you want to be healed or not?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, follow me." Grimmjow said as he began to lead Nina down the familiar corridors. The rout to the medical room was becoming one of the more familiar paths to Nina because of her constant need to get healed as was the throne room. "Here ya go." Grimmjow said stepping aside from the door letting Nina enter first then he came behind her. She sat down then looked at him while he leaned against a wall.

"Thank you, Grimmjow." She said. Grimmjow's frown faded from his face once he heard those words. He looked over to her but she did not have a smile on your face.

"You're welcome." He said pushing himself off of the wall only to leave the room. Nina awaited for her treatment then left the room feeling 100 per cent again. She loved arrancar medical technology compared to the World of the Livings. It was the only thing that was more advanced. As she started walking down the hallways, she was interrupted.

"Nina, glad to see that you are doing alright." Aizen said forcing Nina to turn around and look at him.

"No thanks to you." She said under her breath.

"Now if you please, I have a gift for you."

"A gift?"

"Yes, please follow me down to Szayel's laboratory." Aizen said. As Nina followed him, she wondered why in the world Aizen would all of a sudden offer a gift. What where his motives for doing so? They went down a very long tunnel of stairs, the same ones that she went down when she was first being kept prisoner. She looked at the walls as they got darker and darker; no natural light at all. Just before they got to the corridor of where she was held, they took a left down another corridor then came to the laboratory. Inside the dark laboratory where all the typical things that you would find in a normal laboratory: vials, racks of chemicals and samples, test tubes etc... Szayel turned around and opened up his arms.

"Welcome Nina to my humble laboratory." Szayel welcomed but it was a little creepy to be warm and friendly.

"Thank you Szayel Apollo. Nina, since you are only a human, I have asked Szayel to construct something just for you." Aizen began.

"What do you mean 'only a human'." Nina thought.

"We want you just the way you are. Not soul reaper, not arrancar but a human. Since normal humans are not able to wield a Zanpakuto, I have asked Szayel to craft one and forge it so that only you are able to wield this one as if you were an arrancar or soul reaper. It acts as if it were a normal Zanpakuto in itself but the key difference is that it was meant only for a single human as the chosen one. Szayel was very careful and crafty on this one."

"Why thank you lord Aizen." Szayel laughed.

"So here, I want you to have this. This will be your weapon that you will train with your master which I will be announcing in merely moments from now." Aizen said holding out the Zanpakuto. Nina looked at it for a moment before reaching out to grab it. She looked up at a smirking Aizen once more then took it by the handle. She rested the blade on her other hand and looked at what appeared to be a used sword. "Your Zanpakuto has a name and you can awaked much more power once you find out it's name. Only you are able to find that out so I will get you training within the week."

"Thanks." Nina said surprisingly feeling grateful and smiling at Aizen for the first time ever. Aizen and Szayel smiled back their usual intimidating smile.

"You're very welcome. As for your mentorship, you will be Ulquiorra's fracción since he does not have one." Nina tried to hide a smile that was fighting its way to her face. She thanked him again and was dismissed so she walked out of the laboratory by herself and skipped back to her room smiling the whole way. Once she got back to her room she jumped backwards onto her bed and cheered.

"Yes!"


	26. Chapter 26

Monday morning, Nina woke up happy knowing that this was the day that Ulquiorra promised to go to school with her. She waited in the throne by herself with no one else in there but her. She hummed to herself and rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes with an excited vibe flowing through her. Minutes past and Ulquiorra still wasn't here. It wasn't like him to be late. Nina nervously looked around the room and all of a sudden, Gin came into the throne room.

"Oh, hi there Nina. I was told to come here and tell you that Ulquiorra isn't able to take you to school today so I will open up the portal for you." Gin said with his regular creepy grin.

"Thanks Gin." Nina said keeping a straight face. Gin couldn't open up the portal himself so he got another capable Espada near the room for him to do it.

"There you go. Have fun at school today." Gin said as Nina walked through the barrier. Nina waved at him as it closed. Nina walked to school a little worried. Ulquiorra promised that he would go to school with her today and she feared that he wouldn't be there to keep his promise. After walking the streets alone, she expectedly came to school on schedule but this time she did not go to her classroom right away, instead, she hung around outside. She leaned against the school wall close enough to the front door to see who was coming but far enough to be to herself. Many people passed that she recognized but no one that was worth talking to. Finally, the bell rang and Nina began to walk inside. By the lockers she noticed a boy with messy raven hair facing away from her. His skin was very pale so she had no doubt in her mind that this was Ulquiorra. She smiled widely. He closed his locker and turned to Nina. He looked exactly the same as he did in his normal form but he did not have his arrancar mask on and his eyes were as beautiful as ever. He dressed similar to all the other males in this school; tucked in shirt and a tie but he left a portion on his right side un-tucked. He did not have a hollow hole either that Nina had never seen so she didn't even think of that.

"You came." She said running up to him. "Why didn't you take me this morning?"

"I had to come early to inform the principal of my arrival." He said as they began to walk to the classroom.

"How long do you plan on staying?"

"One day, maybe longer." He answered. He still did not have a smile on his face. Even in a hekikon he was the same Ulquiorra. Once arriving at the classroom, Nina took a seat at her usual spot and Ulquiorra took the seat behind her in the very back where no one could pay attention to him although he really stood out with his light greyish skin. Once Shinji came in the room, he marched up to his seat with a teeth bearing grin on his face and set his bag down by his seat but his smile faded once he seen Ulquiorra sitting there. Ulquiorra stared at him with a cold glare.

"Excuse me buddy but that's my seat." Shinji pointed. Ulquiorra moved his glance to the chalk board and ignored him. "Don't make me say it again." Ulquiorra shoved his hands in his pockets and Nina swivelled in her seat to face the commotion.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Nina, this jerk is taking my favourite seat behind you."

"So? Let him." Nina shrugged.

"Wha—?"

"Shinji, is there a problem?" The teacher asked upon entering the room.

"This guy thinks that he can steal my spot."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to sit somewhere else for today Shinji."

"Huh?"

"That's right just for the day." Shinji sulked as he walked to the desk that was on Ulquiorra's left. After sitting down he stuck out his tongue at him. "We have a new student joining us today." Miss Ochi said turning her view to Ulquiorra. The rest of the class looked over giving uninterested gazes once they seen his gothic-like appearance and Ulquiorra gave an uninterested stare back. "What may we refer to you as?"

"Ulquiorra Schiffer." He said in his signature monotone voice.

"Welcome to Karakura high Ulquiorra." The teacher sang then she turned to the black board. Now for today's lecture. Nina looked back at Ulquiorra.

"Now we listen for a while and take notes." She whispered. She handed Ulquiorra a small stack of paper and a pen. "Just pretend like you're listening." Nina turned back around and started writing frantically. Ulquiorra stared at his blank paper then looked up at the other students who were madly writing trying to keep up with the teachers words. Something about chemical fusion. It was almost like a foreign language to him. There were all sorts of symbols that where the characters of the English alphabet with large numbers in front and some smaller numbers in between. What was NaCl and how would you pronounce that. H2O, what the heck. How was it possible for the human mind to be capable of understanding this chicken scratch? Ulquiorra sat up and took his pen and began to draw out some of the diagrams that the teacher sketched. He lifted his eyes every now and then to get a good vision of his drawing to make it as accurate as possible. After a while, Ulquiorra set his pen down in satisfaction with his finished masterpiece but by the time that this one had done, the teacher had done many more similar diagrams that made the original one look like child-play. He sat back in his chair and looked over at the clock. He expected the first brake to be signalled any minute; seconds later, he was right. All the students stood up and headed out the classroom but Ulquiorra took his time getting up. Nina waited for him at the door.

"Come on I want to introduce you to some people." She smiled with her hand out. Ulquiorra once again put his hands in his pockets and walked beside her. "What did you think of the first class?"

"It was incomprehensible." He said.

"I know, even I don't get it all." Nina said discouraged. "Well next one is P.E. so it should be a lot easier. You don't use your brain so much, it's all physical work." Nina said walking up a stairwell. Up at the top was a double door with windows on them. Light shone through and as soon as Nina opened it, they appeared on the roof of the school.

"Hey Nina, what's up?" Ichigo greeted.

"Hi Nina!" Orihime shouted with open arms. Renji waved and Uryuu did nothing.

"Hey Nina, who's that with you?" Rukia asked.

"Oh, this is my friend, Ulquiorra."

"Hey, I'm Ichigo."

"Renji."

"I'm Rukia."

"Hi, I'm Orihime."

"Uryuu."

"These are my friends, Ulquiorra." Nina said at the very end.

"So how do you two know each other?" Orihime asked. Nina blushed not knowing what to say.

"Um, well, Ulquiorra and I go way back. We, we, we..." Nina tried to think.

"We took a class outside of school together." Ulquiorra said covering Nina's butt.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Really, what class was it?" Ichigo asked and Nina blanked out again.

"Sword fighting." Ulquiorra simply said.

"I didn't know Nina could swordfight." Uryuu said under his breath.

"Darn it, Ulquiorra, now Ichigo's gonna think I can be his next training partner." Nina thought.

"Are you any good?" Renji asked getting interested in a little duel.

"I'd take you on any day." Ichigo interrupted Ulquiorra before he had a chance to say anything.

"Now you two, you just met this guy and already you're trying to spar with him?" Rukia jumped in. Nina giggled slightly. She had an image in her head of Ulquiorra going up against the two of them. She had no doubt in her mind that he could beat the both of them, however, she had not seen the extent of his powers or Ichigo and Renji's. She still had faith.

"P.E. class you're on." Ichigo challenged.

"Hey hold on Ichigo, we're doing badminton, not sword fights." Renji said.

"Doesn't matter. I have a feeling that our match would be interesting." Ichigo smiled confidently. "Waddya say?" Ulquiorra stood there for a moment not smiling but he appeared to be deep in thought. They all wondered in the back of his mind if he was okay because he never showed any emotions since they met him in class. Ulquiorra opened his eyes back up and looked at Ichigo.

"It's useless to fight with trash like you." Everyone gasped but Ulquiorra, Nina and Ichigo. They all took his comment seriously, Ichigo took that as a challenge.

"Alright, P.E., badminton, singles, you and me."

"Uh, Ichigo, we're doing doubles." Uryuu informed.

"Fine then. Doubles. My team vs. your team" Ichigo said just before the bell rang.

"And there ya have it. Ichigo bullies yet another innocent transfer student." Renji exaggerate as they all began walking to the gym.

"Hey I'm not bullying, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well that conversation sucked." Uryuu yelled. Nina and Ulquiorra walked behind everyone else.

"Ichigo's kind of an idiot. Are you going to really go up against him?" Nina whispered.

"I am not interested but it may come to that." Ulquiorra said.

"Have you ever played badminton before?" Nina asked and Ulquiorra shook his head. Nina rolled her eyes. Ulquiorra turned his head to Nina.

"You have some very strange comrades." He said.


	27. Chapter 27

All of Nina's class headed to the gym once the bell had rung. They came up to another set of double doors and inside was a giant rectangular shaped room. Ulquiorra instantly seen this as a training ground like the one in Las Noches. Nina walked to the change room and pointed Ulquiorra to the men's change room. Inside the men's change room there were extra shirts and shorts for those who needed it but of course they were washed. Ulquiorra picked out the appropriate size and quickly changed into it ignoring all the conversation going on around him between the boys. He got out before Nina and most of the class and just stood around waiting. Once she passed through the door into the gym, Ulquiorra couldn't help but look at her the whole time. He was surprised to see her in very short shorts but she still wore a sweater over her top but this one was tighter on her than her usual loose one that she wears all the time. For Nina, this was a revealing outfit that showed off mainly her skinny legs. Her arms and chest were always covered. Ulquiorra gasped a little bit when he noticed walking towards him.

"Hey, I've never seen you so revealing." She said to him. Ulquiorra thought that that was very ironic since he thought the same thing about her.

"You never wear shorts." He said. Nina smiled but then the P.E. teacher sent the class outside to run around the school block. They stretched in front of the school doors for a minute.

"This run's pretty easy. All you do is go around the school block twice then cross pass that fire hydrant to finish." She pointed. "You can follow me or you can go up ahead." Ulquiorra knew that he could easily beat all the pieces of trash but he was in a hekikon which limited his speed and power to that of a human being very well fit but he still felt that he should hold back so that he did not draw any unwanted attention.

"Ready, go!" The P.E. instructor signalled and everyone started off. Ichigo and Renji were at the very front of the group after a minute. Ulquiorra stayed with Nina for a while who was jogging with Orihime. Uryuu was slightly ahead of them and Rukia was running through a mob of students not far from Ichigo and Renji. The student body was panting as they ran around the block once passing the school for the first time. Ichigo and Renji were still battling for first and everyone else held almost the same positions but moving through the crowd a bit more. Ulquiorra was nearly the only one who wasn't panting, instead of holding back, he now knew the rout of the run and took off from Nina.

"Go Ulquiorra." Orihime cheered. Ulquiorra didn't take long before he passed Uryuu and Rukia, he could see Renji and Ichigo scuffling for first but he surprised everyone by passing them too and taking the lead for himself. Ichigo and Renji were a little bit choked as they could not run any faster without wearing themselves down.

"Whoa look at him go." Ichigo said as Ulquiorra passed.

"No kidding." Renji agreed. Ulquiorra came to the last turn before he came onto school property not breaking a sweat at all. Seconds later he came into the parking lot and passed the fire hydrant right near the schools front doors then stopped and waited for everyone else.

"5: 41.65, nice going." The P.E. teacher shouted out Ulquiorra's time. Ulquiorra turned around as he heard Ichigo and Renji fighting around the corner until they too passed the fire hydrant. "6:54.56."

"That's better than last time." Ichigo cheered.

"Yeah, that's only because you cheated." Renji argued.

"I did not cheat." Ichigo said as they started a heated battle. Rukia came around the corner and passed the goal line.

"7:28.31, way to go Rukia." Uryuu came down just after a few guys came through and got 7:43.55 and another group of students passed gathering varying times between Nina and Orihime who scored 9:05.15. They all walked around panting heavily as they waited for the last group of students. The very last student grabbed 13:34.20 for their time then they all headed inside. Ulquiorra walked close to Nina.

"We have lots of training to do later." Ulquiorra said hinting at Nina's Zanpakuto training in Las Noches.

"Why did you tell Ichigo that I'm a sword fighter. Now he's gonna get after me to spar with him and I'm not good at all so I'll never hear the end of it."

"After I train you, you will get better so you can defend yourself more and take out that trash." He said looking up at Ichigo. As the students came into the gym, the badminton nets have been set up while they were running. They had the freedom to make their own teams of doubles: Ulquiorra went with Nina, Ichigo with Rukia, Uryuu with Orihime and Renji with Chad. They all spread out and began a scored game of badminton.

"Okay Ulquiorra, it's you and me." Ichigo challenged.

"Hey don't forget about Nina and I." Rukia said with her hands on her hips.

"Eheheh, and you ladies too." He added not meaning those words at all. Nina pointed out the boundaries that the shuttle could not exceed and Ulquiorra seemed to quickly understand the rules of the game. Rukia threw the shuttle up and launched an over hand serve over to Nina who successfully received the pass and threw it up and over. It headed over to Rukia but Ichigo immediately got in the way.

"Mine." Ichigo said blocking Rukia and hitting it back over the net over to Ulquiorra. He managed to hit it over back to Ichigo who aimed back to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra to Rukia to Nina to Rukia but Ichigo aggressively got in the way again and passed it to Ulquiorra and he hit it up and over softly enough but hard enough to hop over the net just on the boundary line.

"Nice going Ulquiorra." Nina cheered.

"Okay, lucky shot. Your serve." Ichigo said passing it over to Ulquiorra. He bent over to pick up the shuttle while eyeing Ichigo then wacked it over to him. "Got it." Ichigo bounced it to Nina who tapped it to Rukia to Ulquiorra and he gathered another point for his team. Nina cheered again and Ichigo twitched from annoyance. Ulquiorra served it to Rukia who passed it to Nina throwing it to Rukia. Ichigo got in the way again and passed it to Ulquiorra and back then to Nina but Ulquiorra got in the way to pass it to Rukia but Ichigo stepped it yet again.

"Hey." Rukia said folding her arms across her waist while still holding onto the badminton racket. Nina walked closer to the net and watched Ichigo and Ulquiorra rally back and forth. Ulquiorra fumbled giving Ichigo the serve. They rallied again without Rukia and Nina. Other students stopped their game to watch the two go back and forth intensely as they were engaged in an epic battle that they wanted.

"Look at them go." Uryuu said lowering his badminton racket to witness the fight.

"I never thought that Ulquiorra would be so good at badminton." Renji said watching them too. Suddenly the P.E. teacher blew his whistle at the two making them turn to him.

"Foul on Kurosaki." He said.

"What, foul? How can there be a foul in badminton?" Ichigo complained.

"For losing to a guy whose first time playing the sport. Now git your butt in gear mister."

"Uh yessir." Ichigo saluted and started back to his game.

"Go Ulquiorra." Nina cheered along with the majority of the students.

"Go Ichigo." The other 20% applauded.

"Come on Ichigo, you can't lose your a** to this guy." Renji shouted.

"Yeah thanks. This guy's really good." Ichigo said panting after receiving a pass.

"You can do it Ichigo." Rukia shouted then Orihime quoted. Ichigo grunted and groaned when receiving the shuttle and sending it back. Just after the bell for the lunch hour rang, the shuttle fell on Ichigo's side giving Ulquiorra the victory. Everyone cheered for him and the exciting match they had all witnessed. Ulquiorra looked around at those chanting his name and Ichigo swung his racket down. Nina ran up to Ulquiorra and hugged him.

"You did it." She smiled while embracing him but she pulled away as they noticed Ichigo walking up to them.

"Hey." Ichigo started. "That was a really good match just now." He finally smiled to lighten the mood. Ulquiorra only nodded before he walked back to the changing room. He got undressed to have a quick to shower to clean himself of the little bit he sweated. Boys came in talking about the class as they too got undressed and cleaned themselves up a little. He stopped for a moment and stood under the nozzle letting water drip down his figure while feeling something strange in the pit of his stomach. It happened once Nina had embraced him. His appetite had vanished and no longer had a desire to eat lunch and could not get the image or her smile out of his head. His hands curled up into a fist trying to figure out what was happening to him. He then put his hands up to his head after shutting off the valve stopping the shower from pouring down on him then decided to dry himself off.


	28. Chapter 28

"You did really good out there, Ulquiorra. I was so surprised." Nina said once Ulquiorra came out of the men's change room.

"We'll have to work on your back hand. It is far too weak." Ulquiorra said. Nina twitched with annoyance.

"What the heck was that? I compliment you and you tell me that I sucked and you think that you can teach me a thing or two?" Nina's voice rose making everyone look over to the two. Once she noticed everyone's eyes on her, she quickly grew shy.

"I'm talking about when I start training you. Your back hand will never work with a Zanpakuto." Ulquiorra said.

"Oh." She said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright. You shouldn't fuss over something like that. I'll start your training after school on Wednesday."

"Okay." She said. "Let's go have some lunch." Ulquiorra walked beside Nina to the lunch room but by the time that they got there, there were so many students there that there was nowhere left to sit. "Oh no." Nina's hands fell to her side once realizing that they weren't going to be sitting in there. She then put a hand over her stomach. "You know, I'm not really feeling that hungry right now anyways. What about you?"

"Not at all." He replied in his smooth toned voice.

"Then let's go outside." Nina and Ulquiorra turned around and headed back onto the rooftop of the school. Nina sat against the fence and brought her knees up to her chest locking her arms around them. She smiled gently. "Thank you Ulquiorra." She said softly as the wind blew their hair. Ulquiorra dropped his gaze down to her figure. "Thank you... for keeping your promise. It means so much to me."

"Hm, you're welcome. Strangely I find it very interesting here and your activities are quite unusual. You have quite the group of friends here. It is more demanding than being back in Hueco Mundo. I understand why you like it here." Nina gasped and looked up to him and his eyes were softer than his usual piercing gaze. "You must feel alone in Las Noches." Nina's eyes saddened yet she was relieved that Ulquiorra finally started to understand how she felt.

"You do understand." She sighed. "Like you said, I have been feeling alone in Las Noches but having you around has made me..." Nina stopped and Ulquiorra waited for her to finish.

"Tell me."

"Happy." Nina said softly then she gasped when she heard something fall on the ground. Ulquiorra did not hesitate to turn around with lightning quick reflexes to notice Shinji walking from around the corner rubbing his head.

"That really hurt." Shinji said.

"Shinji what are you doing here?" Nina asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm not appreciative that you took my spot, buddy, or am I about stealing my precious Nina from me."

"Go away." Nina called. Shinji began to enclose the space between him and Nina until Ulquiorra stepped in the way blocking him from going any further. Shinji tisked and rolled his eyes.

"You think that you can just take Nina away from me?"

"You're very annoying." Ulquiorra said. "What makes you think that Nina feels the same way about you?" Nina blushed at Ulquiorra's words. It sent a chill down her spine once her name rolled off of his tongue.

"Look at that. She's blushing. That's a clear sign that she is in love with someone." Shinji pointed. Ulquiorra's eyes widened then he looked behind him seeing Nina's cheeks flushed with red.

"Shut up Shinji." Nina said.

"I mean come on. I don't see much to you that she could like so clearly that I'm—" Nina punched Shinji right in the jaw to shut him up knocking him back against the fence then she turned around and grabbed Ulquiorra's hand and ran away with him. They ran down the stairs through the hallways of the school together until they came to a deserted section. Nina panted with her hands on her knees and Ulquiorra stared behind them to make sure that they were not being followed.

"Please." Nina panted. "Don't listen to anything that he said. He's a jerk." She sat down on the ground from exhaustion.

"Your face is red." He spoke.

"Oh, I'm just tired from all of that running is all." She waved her hands and her face couldn't possibly get any more red but somehow it managed once she seen Ulquiorra approaching her. He put his hand on her forehead then got down on one knee to level his eyes with hers.

"Yes, you seem to be abnormally warm." Ulquiorra said and Nina laughed nervously.

"Ahahaha, yeah, what can I say? Running gets me warm."

"Tell me why that boy was acting like that."

"Shinji thinks that he is in love with me. Love can make a person do or say some really stupid things." Nina spoke.

"Love? What is love? Is that another emotion that you humans feel in your heart?"

"Yes. Love is one of the most powerful emotions. Love is when a boy and a girl really really like each other and want to spend all of their time together and make one another happy. When you're around the person, your heart beats really fast and gets really warm." Nina said pulling her arms up and cupping them over top of her heart while closing her eyes. She did not see how Ulquiorra's eyes dilated once he heard her last sentence. His hand shot up to the base of his throat where his hollow hole would be and remembered the warm tingling feeling he sometimes felt whenever he was around Nina. He couldn't be... it was impossible for an arrancar to feel that, wasn't it? "But I don't feel any of that for Shinji." She finished.

"Hey there you are." Renji called out and everyone came around the corner.

"We've been looking for you." Rukia said. Orihime stood and looked back and forth many times between Ulquiorra and Nina's blush before she came out with a conclusion in her mind.

"What's going on guys?" Ichigo questioned.

"Ah ha! Nina, you like—" Nina jumped up and launched herself towards Orihime putting a hand over her mouth to shut her up. Everyone else stared at them confused but Nina stood up still holding Orihime's mouth.

"Ahaha, nothing's going on here. I just need to talk to Orihime for a second on the washroom. Be right back." Nina said holding Orihime like a hostage then dragging her away.

"I wonder what that was all about." Uryuu thought out loud.

"Beats me." Ichigo said clueless as to what just happened.

Nina dragged Orihime down the hall and shoved her into the nearest washroom and slammed the door behind her. She stood facing the door for a while before her shoulders dropped then turning around to face Orihime with an expressionless face suddenly bursting out at her seconds later.

"What the heck was that?"

"I seen you blush there. You like him."

"Just because I just so happened to blush once does not prove that I like him." Nina said and Orihime chuckled.

"Have you told him how you feel?" Orihime asked ignoring Nina's comment.

"I told him that we are friends and that is it. There's nothing else that can be said."

"Nina. I'm surprised at you. Rejecting the feelings that you must have for this man and lying straight to my face. I know you like that Ulqui... Ulqui..."

"Ulquiorra! "Nina shouted then sighed. "Okay, what if I was in love with said man, which I'm not, then what would you say?" Nina asked then Orihime jumped forward and wrapped her arms around Nina's waist.

"Oh Nina, I knew it. You look so happy with him. I knew he had to be the one. So when are you going to tell him?"

"Hey, I just said that I wasn't in love."

"You can't fool me. I'll help you tell him. Come on, let's go." Orihime said grabbing Nina's hand and pulling her over to where the gang was standing. Nina rolled her eyes. Everyone turned their head to face the direction of Nina's shouting until her and Orihime came back around the corner. Orihime smiled widely and Nina just sighed. "Well go ahead Nina." Orihime said nudging Nina forward. Rukia was the only other one that had a feeling she knew what was going on but all of the males were clueless. Nina stepped forward to Ulquiorra but the bell rang before she got to say anything. She sighed.

"Well, it will have to be some other time. Gotta get to class." Ichigo said and everyone nodded in agreement. Nina stared at the ground with disappointment but she turned around and walked Ulquiorra and herself to their next class.


	29. Chapter 29

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. All of the students got up from their seats at the end of the day and ran out the door after a very long Monday. Ulquiorra, however, took his time to look up at the clock before pushing the chair he was in away from his desk. He buried his hands in his pockets and strolled over to the door frame waiting for Nina to quickly finish up on her last math question before they decided to exit together. They silently walked down the student filled hallways, brains hurting from trigonometry, until they came outside where they were met up with Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and Renji.

"Man, that last class really hurt." Ichigo said rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Yeah, how can you even begin to understand that?" Renji questioned.

"Oh come on it wasn't so bad." Orihime smiled.

"We're all going to the soda shop for a while. Did you two want to come?" Ichigo asked. Orihime gasped before jumping on top of Ichigo to silence him.

"Uh, actually I think I need you guys to help me with some homework over at my place. Nina already told me that she has something else she needs to do." Orihime struggled.

"Yeah, I promised Orihime that I would and it would be helpful if you all joined." Rukia added.

"That's right." Orihime nodded.

"Well, I guess so." Renji stated.

"Whatever." Ichigo added. "Let's get going guys." Ichigo was the first to turn around and walk away. Everyone else joined and as Orihime walked away, she turned around and winked at Nina for good luck. Nina held her breath as it was just Ulquiorra and her. He turned facing her.

"Where do you want to go next?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina swallowed before answering.

"Let's go over to that soda shop. There's one more person I want to introduce to you." Nina said taking the lead and Ulquiorra followed closely beside her. The whole walk there was rather awkward for Nina. Her heart rate was abnormally fast, feeling it pulse all over her body, and she felt the palms of her hands sweating as they were in a tight fist. Ulquiorra continued to walk in silence with his hands in his pockets occasionally shifting his eyes over to her struggling figure. Just as they arrived at the soda shop, they stopped for a moment before walking through its opened doors.

"Are you alright?" Ulquiorra asked in his smooth monotone voice. Nina avoided making eye contact and just nodded then took the lead going inside. Hanataro looked up from a table he was wiping down and lit up upon seeing Nina walking inside.

"Nina what a pleasant surprise." He said.

"Hi Hanataro." Nina greeted. Hanataro's smile faded from his face once he seen Ulquiorra's melancholic figure walking close behind her then stopping once she had.

"Who's this with you?" He asked.

"Hanataro, this is my friend Ulquiorra. This is another one of my friends, Hanataro."

"It's very nice to meet you. Hanataro bowed and Ulquiorra didn't say much, in fact, he didn't say anything at all, he just stared. Hanataro immediately felt uncomfortable and tried to start conversation. "So, uh, what can I get for you two today?"

"I'll have the usual. Ulquiorra, what do you want?" Nina asked. Ulquiorra looked up at the menu and went through the available beverages and deducted them down to a simple glass of coke.

"I think I shall try some coke." He said surprising Hanataro with his monotone voice.

"Good choice. I'll be right back. You two make yourselves comfortable." Hanataro said disappearing into the back of the store. Nina walked over and passed her usual two seated table to pick out a larger one close by. Nina slid down the seat of the booth for Ulquiorra to join right beside her.

"How did you find school today Ulquiorra?" Nina quietly asked.

"It was somewhat amusing although I couldn't really follow everything. I now have an understanding of what is expected of you in this world."

"Did you want to come again sometime?"

"I would certainly be willing." Ulquiorra said and Nina smiled.

"There you go, one strawberry milkshake and one coke." Hanataro said almost interrupting.

"So, Ulqui..." Hanataro started trying to remember Ulquiorra's name.

"Ulquiorra." Ulquiorra stated coldly.

"Right Ulquiorra." Hanataro replied nervously. "How do you know Nina?"

"We took a class together outside of regular school hours."

"Oh really, how long ago was that?"

"A few months now." Ulquiorra stated. A few months. Was that how long Nina had been forced into Hueco Mundo? "All though it does not seem that long now." Ulquiorra lifted his glass so that the straw met his lips. He pulled in the sparkling liquid through the straw until it met with his tongue and his eyes shot open before jerking the glass away from his mouth.

"Ulquiorra." Nina called as Ulquiorra coughed.

"Are you alright?"

"What was that in the drink? It's like something very small causing a disturbance in my mouth."

"Oh you mean the bubbles? That's just carbonation to give the coke a little kick." Nina explained.

"Do you not like it? I can get you something else." Hanataro worried.

"Try not to take such a big mouthful this time." Nina advised. Ulquiorra sipped in a smaller amount of coke this time closing his eyes with satisfaction. "Better?" Ulquiorra nodded. "When you burp, do not burp though your nose. The carbon will cause it to burn on the way out." Nina sat back down in the chair and laughed. "I forgot that this is the first time that you have tried coke."

"That's just how I reacted when I first tried it." Hanataro joined in laughing. Ulquiorra simply sat there quietly. He wasn't smiling but he wasn't embarrassed either. He just went back to enjoying his coke that he found himself very fond of in fact he was starting to like the feeling of the small bubbles ticking his tongue. Hanataro stopped laughing as he noticed Ulquiorra not smiling at all then Nina quieted down as she sipped up the last of her milk shake.

"Wow, you finished that one up really fast. Should I get you another one?" Hanataro asked.

"No its okay. Thank you anyways." Nina replied. It didn't talk long for Ulquiorra to finish up his beverage. Nina and Ulquiorra got up and thanked Hanataro for the drink then they started off down the streets once again. As they were walking, Nina skipped on ahead for a moment then spun around to face Ulquiorra. "I have an idea on how I can repay you for all that you have done for me." She smiled.

"And what would that be?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Follow me." She said turning around and taking the lead.


	30. Chapter 30

"Here we are." Nina said opening the door up to her house. "It's been forever since I've been home." Nina walked through the door with Ulquiorra close behind then shut it. "I'm just going to change out of my uniform so I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." Nina walked around the corner and into her room. Ulquiorra could hear her close the door and while he waited, he decided to explore her living room. He gazed through the selection of books near the TV and pulled out a large photo album. Inside where pictures of Nina when she was very young and her family. He noticed a dated photo of Nina sitting behind a cake with one candle on it for her first birthday; it dated December 11. As he flipped through the album, he got an idea of what it was like growing up for Nina. She seemed to be very happy in all of these pictures but that soon stopped until there were pictures of her parents funeral. After that, it seemed like she had to always force a smile on her face and there were not many photos after that. It was as if life had stopped after the death of her parents. Ulquiorra could tell that she was suffering in the many pictures after. Once he got to the end, he put the album back where it was so it looked as if it weren't tampered with.

"Ah, that's much better." Nina said coming out of her room with her usual jeans and jacket on.

"What is it you wanted to do here?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Remember how when I first came to Hueco Mundo I was talking about video games to you?" Nina stated sitting down on the couch.

"I do remember." Ulquiorra stood there with his hands in his pockets. Nina picked up the remote to turn on the TV, set that down then picked up a white remote control and started up something on the TV screen.

"Well you seemed to be interested for a moment when I first explained what a video game was so I figured now would be a good time for me to show you what it's like." Ulquiorra sat down next to Nina and she handed him a wii remote and nunchuck. "Here you go. The remote goes in your right hand and the nunchuck goes in your left. You have to point the remote at the screen for it to work." The light from the TV shone into Ulquiorra's curious eyes as a logo came up; Naruto Ultimate Ninja (pick a number). She smiled at Ulquiorra. He watched her choose her character and then chose his own. "This is my favourite combat game." Nina said as the narrator announced a Deidara versus Sasuke battle. They both sat there waiting for the screen to load for a moment and Nina was confident that she would win. "Hiya!" She called swinging her wii remote causing her player, Deidara, to throw a ninja punch at Ulquiorra's player, Sasuke. "It's kinda like swords play but you can push down buttons to make more powerful attacks." Ulquiorra made his move causing Sasuke's similar motion. After a few attempts, he was quick to learn and soon got the hang of how the game works. Nina figured that she held back long enough for him to get the basics so she unleashed Deidara's super form and used that to take Sasuke out. As the round was over, Nina looked over to Ulquiorra and stuck her tongue out.

"Very well then. If that's how you want to play." Ulquiorra said as round two started. Nina laughed. Once the Narrator said 'start', Ulquiorra activated Sasuke's curse mark form and used that power to do major damage on Deidara nearly K. him then using the remaining amount of chakra for powerful attacks to finish him off. Ulquiorra looked over at Nina and playfully softened his gaze at her.

"I let you win that one." Nina said.

"Really, is that what your excuse was?" Ulquiorra light-heartedly provoked.

"Final round. I'm not holding back." Nina said as the countdown for the final round began. They both lifted their arms preparing for the clock to hit zero. Once it did, they both swung their remotes and nunchucks around wildly dodging attacks, planning traps and escaping with minimal damage. Nina's feet moved forward and back with each and every swing of the arm and did not realize how close she had gotten to Ulquiorra. She swung her arm back knocking Ulquiorra over onto the ground with her falling on top of him. Upon landing, Nina opened her eyes and realized that she was staring straight into Ulquiorra's emerald green eyes. Her cheeks went red once she realized that she could feel Ulquiorra's light breath on her face and hers on his. It took her a moment to figure out that her hands were on top of his chest. Nina was surprised on how warm he was. She always imagined an arrancar to be cold, Ulquiorra especially because of his cold personality but his temperature was quite the opposite. Ulquiorra stared back at her almost emotionless and was studying her expression. Nina's heart raced faster once he gently parted his lips. "Ulquiorra." She whispered. She lifted one of her hands from his chest and traced his 'tear' lines down his cheeks. Nina was almost surprised that he let her do that. Once it registered as to what she was doing, she jumped off of him. "I'm sorry, so sorry." She repeated with very red cheeks. Ulquiorra sat up. "I didn't mean to."

"Are you alright? You look flushed again." Ulquiorra said.

"Oh, um... I'll be right back." Nina got up and ran to the bathroom to recover. She shut the door and looked at herself in the mirror. "Gah, I look like a tomato." Nina talked to herself running cold water and splashing it onto her face hopefully to cool her down. She stopped for a moment to look at herself closer in the mirror. How come Ulquiorra didn't panic at that whole situation? Was it because he doesn't have a heart. Nina contemplated the moment for a while and took a few deep breaths before daring to return to Ulquiorra. "I'm really sorry." She said coming out of the bathroom.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that it was a mistake." Ulquiorra said and Nina felt as if a sword went right through her heart. Does this mean that he didn't think anything of it? He couldn't feel any tension or spark towards Nina? She felt it, now she was almost too nervous to say anything back to him for a moment. She choked on her own words until she looked up seeing her brother Daren approaching the house from his car he parked on the street.

"D***it it's my brother. What the h*** is he doing home on Monday? He'll be so mad to find me alone with you." Nina panicked.

"Why."

"He's mean and cold and cruel. He swears that if he finds me alone with a guy he will punish me for life." Nina said.

"What should we do?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina ran over to lock the door to buy some time.

"Come on this way." She said grabbing Ulquiorra by the hand. She pulled Ulquiorra into her purple painted room then shoved him in her closet. "Wait here." She whispered. Ulquiorra walked to the back of the closet surrounded by jackets, shirts and even the odd dress to cover his figure if the closet were to be opened up by her brother for some reason. Nina rushed back out to the living room and picked up the Wii remote and made it look as if she were playing by herself. Nina could hear her brother forcing the key inside of the lock then opened the door knob.

"I'm home." Daren said coming through the door then shutting it behind him.

"What are you doing home on a Monday?" Nina asked with no sound of happiness at all.

"I've got the week off from work so I'm going to spend it here since I'm never home." Daren replied. Oh great. What's he going to think once Nina has to go back to Hueco Mundo? "Well I really need to have a shower. I'll make us something after I'm done."

"I probably won't be home for supper." Nina interrupted. Daren turned to her with an 'oh really' look on his face. "Orihime, I'm going to Orihime's house for supper. Just for tonight." Nina said. "I'll be home later... before 10:00. I promise."

"Okay then. No later than 10." Daren went into his room to grab some spare clothes for after his shower. Nina sighed once he turned the faucet on then ran into her room to fetch Ulquiorra. She made sure to close and lock her door behind her before she opened up the closet.

"Ulquiorra." She called. "It's me." Nina opened up her double door closet and Ulquiorra came out.

"Is he gone?" Ulquiorra asked.

"He's in the shower but I managed to buy us some time by telling him I'm going to a friend's house for dinner. We better leave the house before he finds you." Nina said and Ulquiorra nodded. She walked over to her door and opened it slightly enough for her to poke her head out of the crack to look both ways before they exited her room then they made a dash for the front door. Nina opened up the entrance then closed it behind them then they both ran to put as much distance between them and the house as they could. They got to the park and plopped themselves on a park bench away from passing people. Nina harshly groaned while putting her hands over her eyes. "What am I going to do? Daren will be home for a week and he will kill me if he finds out that I'm not living at home. I can't tell him that I am in Hueco Mundo. He probably wouldn't believe a story like that anyways."

"You should talk to Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra started. Nina lifted her head.

"Huh?"

"If he is going to be staying at your house for a week then you must stay there too. Inform Aizen of your dilemma and I'm sure that it would benefit him if your life away from your brother is kept secret. I will let you into Hueco Mundo."

"But you're still in your school uniform. Aizen can't know what you are doing here in the world of the living." Nina mentioned. Ulquiorra got up.

"You're right. I need to leave my hekikon in order for me to open up the way to Las Noches." Ulquiorra said. He turned around and began to walk away. "I will return in a moment. Please wait here." Nina watched Ulquiorra walk over to the public washroom and went into the men's side. Moments later he returned back to his arrancar form. His mask was back on and he was back in his Espada uniform. "Come with me." Ulquiorra said. Nina got up and followed Ulquiorra into a place where no one could see her enter into Las Noches. Ulquiorra snapped his fingers and a portal unzipped before them. "Lord Aizen is usually in his throne room at this time."

"Right." Nina nodded. She and Ulquiorra made their way down the pasty white hallways of Las Noches before they came to a corridor with a grand double door. Nina stopped before the door was opened and Ulquiorra looked to her noticing that she was breathing heavy. He could see that she was struggling with this situation and desperately needed Aizen's approval, just for the week.

"Don't worry." Ulquiorra said. Nina looked up into his eyes. "No matter what happens, we will get through this." Nina gently smiled almost relieved that he was promising to help her. Her heart jumped upon saying 'we'.

"Thanks." Nina whispered. Ulquiorra turned his head away first then Nina. She held her breath as the double doors opened.


	31. Chapter 31

"Aizen." Nina called as she and Ulquiorra paced down the carpet pathway of the dark throne room. Aizen lifted his head from his hand that he usually rested it on. An intimidating smile instantly came on his face giving Nina the usual sense uncomforted.

"Welcome home, Nina, Ulquiorra." Aizen said.

"I need to ask you a favour." Nina said avoiding small talk.

"Oh, and what might that be?" Aizen said slowly. Nina's hands formed into a fist and bit her lip.

"Back in the World of the Living, my brother has decided to stay home for the week. He does not know that I am no longer living at home. He would severely punish me if he found out what I am doing. To avoid an uproar, I was hoping that you could allow me the week at my house, just until he leaves to go back to work." Nina prayed.

"I see. You make your point very clear. You seemed to have proved yourself here that you can be trusted." Aizen started. "Your brother would punish you... how?"

"I would be confined into my own home. Basically to school and back so for sure for the rest of my life and he wouldn't allow me here. He has friends in the police force that would put an ankle bracelet on me so it would be as if I were under house arrest. Maybe even move away."

"My, that does sound like quite the impasse. Very well, I will grant you the permission to stay at home for the week until he is gone. After that, you are to come back here and begin your training."

"Yes Aizen." Nina thanked. "Thank you." Aizen chuckled.

"We wouldn't want to ruin our plans for you now would we?" Aizen said in a disturbing tone. Nina for once half bowed to Aizen before she and Ulquiorra left the room. After closing the doors behind them, Nina sighed with relief.

"That went well." Ulquiorra mentioned.

"Yeah, it did. But now I can't be seen with just you because I know my brother is in the same city as me."

"Only for a week."

"Sometimes a week can feel like a life time." Nina whispered as her heart saddened and her arms felt limp at her side. Ulquiorra watched her wilt at the thought of being away from him.

"Come with me." Ulquiorra said. Confused, Nina followed Ulquiorra down the endless halls of Las Noches until they came to a random door. It wasn't completely random. Once Ulquiorra opened it up, it was clear that this was his quarters. It was the first time that she had been inside his room, she never even seen it before. Ulquiorra walked over to his bed and gestured with his eyes for her to sit down. Nina sat down and watched Ulquiorra walk over to his dresser. "I want you to close your eyes." He insisted. Nina's cheeks changed to a redder shade for a moment with a look of nervousness in her eyes. "I have something for you." Nina slowly closed her eyes with her hands resting on her lap. Nina's heart rate shot up hearing Ulquiorra's footsteps come closer to her. Suddenly, she felt her spot on the bed rise as Ulquiorra sat close beside her. She could feel her breath getting deeper and deeper. Ulquiorra's hands grabbed for hers and opened them up, lightly placing something small and cold inside them. She abruptly opened her eyes and glanced down into her hands. Two rings she thought she had once lost were unexpectedly laying there. She lifted her hands to her eyes to examine and make sure that they were real.

"Ah." She whispered. She pulled her hand to her mouth and rested her nails on her bottom lip. She couldn't believe that they were real. "My parent's wedding rings." She whispered not having the courage to take her eyes off of them. The white gold shone in the desert moonlight tempted her eyes to fill with tears. Ulquiorra was confused.

"Why do you cry? Have I hurt you?" Ulquiorra asked. Nina.

"No. You've done the opposite."

"I don't understand why you weep."

"I'm crying because I'm so happy. When did you find them?"

"That first night that I came to visit you in the hospital, I decided to go look for them. It wasn't as fast as I had thought it might be. After all, they are small and there are two of them." Ulquiorra explained. Nina sniffed then she dove onto Ulquiorra locking her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. Ulquiorra was shocked and hesitated for a moment before placing his arm around her.

"Thank you so much, Ulquiorra. You don't know how much this means to me." Nina bawled. Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he stroked her hair. The temperature around the rim of his hollow hole climbed to a soothing warm and as he sat there with Nina in his arms, he came to the conclusion that he liked it. When Nina pulled away from him, she looked into his eyes and Ulquiorra to hers. He lifted one of his hands and caught a falling tear with his index finger then brought it up to his eyes for further analysis then he rubbed it off with his thumb. Nina smiled wiping away the rest of her tears. "Ok, I think I'm done now." She chuckled. After a few minutes, Nina decided to get up. When she turned back to Ulquiorra, her heart deeply saddened. "I should probably get going now." She sighed. Ulquiorra's eyes fell to the floor for a minute then he too got up.

"It's for the best." Ulquiorra said snapping his fingers to open up a portal to the World of the Living. Nina looked from Ulquiorra to the portal then back to him. The thought of seven long days away from someone who has become such a huge part of her life depressed her and hurt her heart.

"Yeah." She said in a hush tone. "You're right."

"If he were to see me with you, I'm sure that you wouldn't be allowed to be seen with me... after all, he would view me for what I am... a monster." Nina's heart pace rose, breaking with every beat, upon hearing this then gasped after the thought of Ulquiorra as a monster processed through her brain. She stepped to him then wrapped her arms around him once more.

"You're not a monster. You're just different." She whispered in his ear then broke away from him and stepped through the portal. As the portal closed before them, Nina couldn't help but look back into his enchanting emerald eyes and he gazed into her ocean blue ones. Slowly the portal closed as their eyes were locked onto one another's until they were to be seen no more.


	32. Chapter 32

The next day in Hueco Mundo seemed very unusual for a certain Espada member. With Nina living in Las Noches he had almost completely changed his life style as it was his duty to attend to her. Before she came, Ulquiorra mostly remained to himself, a cold stoic arrancar. No one and nothing meant anything to him. What reflected through his eyes had no purpose. If he could not see it, it simply did not exist. Ever since he had come close to Nina, he had come to the understanding of human emotions. She made him grow curious and hungry to know of an unseen object: the human heart and what it is capable of. He wanted to see it in his green eyes, he lusted to rip it out of Nina's chest, he craved to feel it throb in his cold hands but something was stopping him. Was it the fact that he knows that if he did that, it would mean killing her so that she was unable to teach him anything more? Maybe. However, as examining her emotions he had come to the conclusion that he liked happiness. More importantly, he liked her happiness. Every time Nina was happy, it radiated towards him causing something that he had never felt before. The rim of his hollow hole at the base of his throat would grow warm. When she made physical contact with him it would feel as if the sun were shining on his bare skin; once feeling like he where being lit on fire but he came to the conclusion that he liked it, only when he was around Nina.

Ulquiorra sat in a large, well-lit, empty room with a cup of tea sitting beside him on a small table. Nina was no longer there. Seven days she would not return. It was much quieter than usual but the quietness made it seem as if she were never there but Ulquiorra knew that she had been there because he was still curious. He closed his eyes and lifted the cup of tea up to his lips letting the liquid flow into his mouth. As he swallowed, he could feel the heat going down his chest into his stomach. It felt warm like he had seen Nina smile but it didn't take long before that warmth cooled back down to his normal cold temperature. He took another sip trying to keep it warm but it too did not remain. He found himself drinking more tea than usual lately. He did not acknowledge it but he used it as a way of feeling that warmth he gets from seeing Nina now that she was gone.

Nnoitora stuck his head through the door frame and looked both ways scanning the room of any others existence before taking the liberty of walking in. He skilfully spun his weapon around in his right hand for amusement purposes out of his utter boredom. Ulquiorra kept his eyes closed trying to ignore him as he knew full well who's footsteps were pacing themselves towards him. Nnoitora knew Ulquiorra better but ignored the signs of his uninterested ignorance. A hefty laugh escaped Nnoitora's lungs disrupting Ulquiorra's silence.

"Well, Ulquiorra. It's strange to find you sitting all by yourself." Nnoitora half mocked. Ulquiorra decided to open his eyes and stared at the fifth Espada. "I heard our little pet has gone home to the World of the Living for seven days. Guess she needed a break from all of this commotion here. I don't blame her. Yeah, it can get crazy in here sometimes."

"Do you have a reason to be here at the moment?" Ulquiorra coldly said looking up from the tea that was resting on his lower lip. Nnoitora frowned but sidestepped the answer.

"So she's become your fracción. It's quite unusual for a human to be an arrancar's fracción. I wonder what lord Aizen has planned for that girl." Nnoitora mentioned. Strange, Ulquiorra hesitated to swallow his tea after remembering that Aizen has plans for her. Hopefully not plans to harm her. If that happened, he would forever thirst to know about the human heart.

"Plans? I haven't heard of anything from lord Aizen for a while."

"From what I've heard, he plans to experiment with her. First of all to test whether she is worthy of wielding a Zanpakuto."

"I am aware of that much. After examining her spiritual pressure, lord Aizen has come to the conclusion that it is weak but is certainly capable of mass power." Ulquiorra stated and Nnoitora laughed.

"I'm sure that lord Aizen plans on using her for his benefit then will dispose of her once she is of no use to him." Ulquiorra had an uneasy feeling in his stomach and decided to set his tea aside. All along he knew that Aizen would use her for his benefits but he never wanted to admit that he would discard of her once she is useless. For Aizen that only meant one thing; he would have her killed. Nnoitora looked at Ulquiorra's emotionless face but could tell that something was going through his mind. He laughed. "I see that you've grown fond of our little pet. It must disturb you to even think of lord Aizen killing her off." Nnoitora persisted. Ulquiorra's eyes snapped open and gave a cold glare towards the fifth Espada. He knew that he could so easily kill this trash but that would prove all the more that he has began to feel something for Nina. He didn't know what it was but he liked having her around. Ulquiorra stood up and began walking out of the room with his hands in his pockets.

"Lord Aizen has a reason for his doings and I'm not one to stand in his way." Ulquiorra stated turning his back to Nnoitora and exited through the door frame. Nnoitora stood watch until Ulquiorra's figure was no longer to be seen.

"Hmph. You're just too stubborn to admit it."

Ulquiorra found himself walking down the halls of Las Noches only to leave and head deep into Hueco Mundo where no one could find him seems how he wouldn't be left alone if he were to stay where everyone remained. He walked by the spot that he took Nina, memories flooding through his mind taking over his ability to move. He just stood there for a moment looking at the spot where they sat together just talking. He recalled that it was here where he first felt the sense of warmth. Nina was resting her head on his lap then looked up to his eyes and smiled. This smile was different than usual. It was a loving smile, not just a happy one. It was at that time he felt warmth around his hollow hole. Here he also discovered that sadness can be taken away with happiness as he cured Nina of her sadness after losing those pendants she held so close to her. Sadness left her. Sadness... didn't have to last forever.

Ulquiorra shook his head and continued walking through the white desert. Was he feeling sadness, the urge to be alone from anyone else but Nina whom he could not see? He lifted his hand and placed it on his zipper slowly undoing it revealing his hollow hole which he had never shown anyone. He hated the fact that he was born a hollow and evolved into an arrancar from Aizen. Born under the dark depths of Hueco Mundo where no light shone. Alone. Though there were others around him that differed from his white figure, they were always eating. Ulquiorra was never able to rest. Those hollows always eating, wanting more kept him awake and forced him to leave his dark abyss as they tried to eat him too. He fled to the surface of Hueco Mundo where the moonlight shone. He had no companion, nothing worth living for. He was simply existing. Feeling Nothing.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he began to draw in the reishi of Hueco Mundo transforming into his release form: segunda etapa. Wings grew from his back, his black hair lengthened he had returned to his original state of being what he would refer himself to is a beast. A monster no one could love. By transforming, he remembered what he had come from. He lifted his wings and began to flap them eventually picking himself off of the ground and flew even further from Las Noches. He desperately tried to find a way to pass the time and fill himself with something for the time being until Nina returned. He felt that sense of being alone once again. No one to give him purpose. By Aizen transforming Ulquiorra into an arrancar, he has given him purpose to serve him, although he still hated his existence. Now Ulquiorra has found a new purpose. He had a dream of holding a human heart in his hands to see it with his very eyes. More accurately, he wanted Nina's. Her heart was not fragile like so many other humans that he has witnessed. Hers had a strong commendable beat to it, a beat that was dedicated to him.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Warning, major feels!**

Nina was sitting in her desk on a typical school day though it was not so typical because her mind was constantly thinking of Ulquiorra. Five more days seemed like an eternity. With her brother around, she avoided going home at all costs until she had met her curfew. Nina completely zoned out while looking out the window totally avoiding the teachers lecture. Orihime looked over from her notes taking notice of Nina's wondering eyes. Nina was so unfocused, she didn't even notice the bell ringing for lunch. Everyone else got up to go outside but Nina and Orihime who was wondering what was wrong with her. Rukia stopped at the door and looked back taking note of Orihime and Nina.

"Are you coming Orihime?" Rukia called. Orihime looked up and slowly began to get out of her chair but took another glance back behind her. Instead of following Rukia, she turned around and kneeled down beside Nina.

"It's lunch time. Aren't you going to come out?"

"Oh." Was all Nina said. She stood up and followed Rukia out the door with Orihime trailing behind her. They took their lunches and headed up to their usual spot on the roof. Ichigo, Uryuu, Renji and Chad were already up there with their lunches sitting in a circle on the ground leaning against the fence already making conversation. Ichigo and Renji greeted the girls as they joined in too. Nina sat quiet the whole time not even opening up her lunch as everyone else were talking and laughing. No matter what she did, she couldn't get Ulquiorra out of her mind. She never realized that he had begun to be such a big part of her life and didn't think that she would feel this depressed without him. Orihime sat there watching Nina the majority of the time occasionally taking a bite of her barbeque sauce and banana sandwich. In the middle of conversation, Nina stood up and walked to the door stopping the ongoing talk. Everyone took notice by now that Nina wasn't herself.

"Hm?" Ichigo said.

"I wonder what that was all about." Uryuu said. As Nina closed the door behind her, Orihime got up and ran after her.

"Nina! Nina!" Orihime called stopping Nina from ascending down the stairs any further. Nina turned around with the same sadness in her eyes. "What's going on? Why do you look so sad today?" Nina took a moment to think if she should tell Orihime or not. "Did something happen between you and Ulquiorra?" Orihime could see paleness coming to Nina's face once she mentioned Ulquiorra's name. "I thought so. Did you two have a fight?"

"No it's not like that." Nina finally spoke. She sat on a stair and Orihime joined beside her. "I can't see him for a week. My brother came home for a week and if he were to see Ulquiorra, I probably wouldn't be allowed to see him so I figured that it's best not to be around each other for that time until he goes away. I never thought that I would miss him so much though."

"Wow that's so sad. Don't worry, you'll see him again."

"I know but it feels like it has been forever since I last saw him. Only five more days until my brother leaves then I can see Ulquiorra again. What if my brother decides to stay home longer or what if he gets fired then I can never see Ulquiorra again." Nina worried with all the possible worst case scenarios going on in her head.

"Aw that's so romantic. You and Ulquiorra could secretly meet where you know your brother won't show up." Orihime fantasized. "And then you could exchange vows of how you love each other so much and then you'll live happily ever after."

"He can't love." Nina blurted out without thinking.

"Hm?"

"He can't love." Nina quickly thought of a way to cover herself up. "Well he used to love but he got hurt so bad by his ex-girlfriend that he swore that he would never love again. That's why he never smiles."

"I never knew that was the reason. I guess that's why you never told him that you love him."

"Yeah." Nina lied. "Now that you mention it."

"Even so, that doesn't stop you from having feelings towards him." Orihime thought.

"Em what?" Nina blushed.

"You still love him don't you?"

"There's no reason to." Nina explained. "I told you he can't love."

"If he could love you, would you love him?" Orihime asked. Nina sat there with an obvious answer in her head but she didn't want to tell anyone. She wanted Ulquiorra to be the first one to know. She tried to figure out a way to avoid answering directly.

"I dunno... maybe. I just miss him so much."

"Next time you see him you should confess your love for him otherwise if you never see him after that you may not get a chance to and regret it." Orihime suggested.

"Maybe I'll try. Even though I know he won't feel the same."

"Who knows, maybe he's changed after getting to know you." Orihime said. Nina's eyes widened. Change, yes. Ulquiorra had changed so much after she got to know him. He was cruel and cold. Not someone that she would want to get to know but his curiosity of the human heart brought him to her and she actually found that he wasn't as bad as she first had thought. She could easily admit that she fell in love with his eyes as soon as she first seen him. She remembered when their eyes locked onto each other's for the first time for what seemed like an eternity. They were so magnificent the way they shone in the light. She remembered the first thing that he said to her: 'how are you able to that?' Ulquiorra referred to how she didn't die after Yammy sucked in the weak souls of people across town. His voice made a chill go down her spine. She loved it's monotone and smoothness. Nina was disgusted at the fact that Ulquiorra served Aizen so loyally but the times that he went against his orders by taking her out into Hueco Mundo and coming to school for her always made her more happy than anything that she had ever felt. He seemed to grow compassionately towards Nina always doing so much for her just so that he could see her smile again. A smile for him. She hoped that he would smile for her one day when the time is right. Thinking about her past with Ulquiorra, Nina's eyes began to water and couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I do love him." Nina bawled. Orihime was surprised to hear Nina admit that. Orihime took Nina in her arms as she sobbed away. "It hurts so much to be away from him. I can't live without him." Orihime only smiled down as she patted Nina on the back. "I've never felt something like this towards anyone before."

"There you go. That wasn't so bad admitting that you love him. Now say it again."

"I love him."

"Again."

"I love him."

"Say it until you're sick of it."

"I love him, I love him, I love him." Nina started still crying and howling. "I love him so much." Nina laughed a little bit in her tears.

"I'm proud of you, Nina." Orihime said softly. "The next step is to tell him." Nina sniffed knowing that it would be a lot harder to tell Ulquiorra to his face that she loves him even though it was not possible for him to feel anything back. Still it would be better for her to admit to him so that she didn't get all the pressures built up inside of her. It would be a lot easier on her heart for him to know and say he doesn't feel the same way back than for her to never know for the rest of her life.

"Even if he doesn't love me, I still want him to know." Nina said as she began to calm down. She pulled away from Orihime and wiped her eyes with her wrists. "No, I hate crying. Why do I have to be so weak?"

"You're not weak when you cry." Orihime began. "In fact, the reason that you cry is because you have been strong for so long." Nina gasped upon hearing those words. It was exactly what she told Ulquiorra the first time that he had seen her cry. It was because she was strong that she was weeping and he could not understand that. Nina smiled.

"Yeah, I know." She said back to Orihime. "It's not easy being strong all the time." Orihime smiled back tilting her head to the side. Nina sighed feeling as if a great burden had been lifted off of her shoulders after telling Orihime that she loved Ulquiorra. It was the first time she had ever admitted to love and she was happy that Orihime was there to listen and not judge. "Orihime."

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks."


	34. Chapter 34

Nina lay upside-down on her bed in her room after school one day after school. Although she was free from Hueco Mundo like she always had wanted, she was sad. She would finally be able to see Ulquiorra in a few more days since it was now Friday. Nina skipped out on visiting Hanataro because she was so depressed. Her brother, Daren, wanted to go out for supper together someplace for what seemed like no reason at all but Nina figured that she should since she had been avoiding him as much as possible since he came here for the week.

Looking over at the clock before getting up to change out of her school clothes into her usual jeans, t-shirt and hoodie. To finish it off, she put her parents wedding rings onto a new chain and secured it at the back of her neck. She shoved her hands in her pockets and slouched as she walked out of her room to meet her brother. Daren came out of his room dressed in something different then his usual suit and tie. He wore dark jeans that were lazy enough to be at home but professional enough if he were ever to need to look it.

"Ready to go?" Daren asked. Nina said nothing and followed him outside to his expensive car. They never spoke a word to each other as they walked down the driveway and buckled themselves in. The drive seemed to take a very long time as they attempted no form of conversation instead, Nina just stared at the outside watching everything go by until they pulled up to a small family orientated restaurant. It was a place meant for younger children since there were childish pictures on the walls and a train chugging along over top of their heads. The waiters and waitresses even dressed up in costumes for entertainment.

"Are you serious?" Nina asked as they pulled up to the parking lot.

"What? You used to love this place when you were a little kid." Daren said.

"Do I look like a little kid?" Nina questioned as Daren got out of the car.

"Oh come on now, it'll be just like the good times." Daren said walking away from the car with his hands in his pockets then he locked up making the car horn honk once. Nina frowned before she got out of the car.

"I'm not going in there." Nina called and Daren turned around.

"Well where do you want to go?"

"I dunno, some place more sophisticated." Nina suggested. Daren sighed before walking past her.

"Fine, I know a better place just around the block." Nina followed him exactly around the corner to some other place that was much more pricey but it was what she had in mind. As they walked, Nina noticed Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Rangiku and Toshiro walking towards them.

"Hey Nina." Orihime shouted. Nina waved back smiling as she got closer to her friends.

"Who is this?" Rangiku flirtingly asked examining Daren's appearance.

"This is my brother, Daren. These are my friends from school: Rangiku, Toshiro, Ikkaku, Ichigo, Renji, Rukia and Orihime."

"Nice to meet you." Rangiku said back.

"Hi." Rukia said.

"Hey." Ichigo, Renji and Ikkaku said in unison.

"Hello there." Orihime added.

"Wow you certainly got quite the group of friends Nina." Daren said.

"That's right. We all love our Nina." Rangiku laughed head locking Nina against her large revealing breasts. Nina struggled to get away. Daren's eyes widened while staring at her breasts half not amused that a high school student would wear something so revealing.

"We should go." Daren said yanking Nina away from Rangiku.

"See you guys." Nina waved and everyone else waved back at her. They entered the restaurant and were immediately seated in a two person booth and ordered their drinks. In no time the server arrived at their table setting the beverages down then received their order then left. Nina stirred her drink around with the straw avoiding eye contact with Daren.

"Those where quite the group of friends you got there." Daren began.

"Yeah, you haven't seen all of them." Nina added.

"Who else is there?"

"Well there's Uryuu, Chad and I'm not sure if Yumichika would be classified as a friend but he's always hanging out with the others. Sometimes there's this really weird guy named Shinji who joins us but I think he's creepy."

"I see. Do you like any of those guys there?" Daren asked. Nina was shocked that he would ask such a question.

"What? No way. Especially not Shinji, Yumichika... or Chad... or Uryuu. Not Ikkaku or Toshiro either. Ichigo and Renji too. Why are you asking me this?"

"No reason. Just curious about your life."

"That's a change." Nina said under her breath. There was a moments silence as they sucked down their drinks.

"Do you still hang around with Hanataro at all?"

"Yeah, not as much as I used to in the summer because I have a lot of school work to do. He's busy working anyways." Nina knew that her brother had no concerns for Hanataro falling in love with Nina because he knew that he was the kind of guy that wouldn't confess and would be too shy to do or admit anything.

"Is there anyone else?" Daren asked. Nina's mind was on Ulquiorra as he said this. She snapped back out of it once she realized what he said.

"Why would you think that there's anyone else. There's no one else, it's just home and school occasionally seeing Hanataro but no there's no one else." Nina defended and Daren nodded before looking back down to his nearly complete drink.

"Alright." He shrugged. Just at perfect timing, the waitress came back and set their plates before them then walked away to her other duties. Daren did not hesitate to eat but Nina felt awkward about their conversation but a few seconds later, she picked up her fork and started working on her dinner. Just as she lifted her first fork full up to her lips, something caught her eyes and ears out of the window. There was a large explosion in the building just across from where they were. "What the h***?" Daren noticed the explosion, the sound was so loud that it would be impossible to ignore. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." Nina answered but her eyes widened as soon as she seen Grimmjow step out of the newly formed hole in the wall along with some of his fracción. It's just like him to make an entrance. "What the h*** is he doing here? I thought I told Aizen not to be seen with arrancars. At least that not many people will be able to see him. Grimmjow's fracción left is side as he cocked his head for them to go in search of something.

"Who are those guys?" Daren questioned. Nina looked over to him with disbelief. How is he able to see those guys coming out of there?

"We should get outta here." Nina started, Daren looked over to her. "Those guys... they look like someone you don't want to mess with." She looked over to her brother. "We have to leave." Nina said. After she said that, she felt and overwhelming wave of spiritual pressure clearly Grimmjow's that caused everyone in the building to pass out, except for Nina. She got up and ran out the restaurant seeing Grimmjow floating up in the air. "Grimmjow!" Grimmjow looked over to the voice that was calling him then smirked.

"Well if it isn't Nina. I've heard that you've gone back to the world of the living."


	35. Chapter 35

"Grimmjow!" Nina shouted causing him to look over to the voice that was calling, then he smirked.

"Well if it isn't Nina. I've heard that you've gone back to the world of the living."

"Yes, with Aizen's permission." Nina clarified.

"Hmph, is that so." Grimmjow said with a look of disgust. Unexpectedly, Ichigo and Rukia responded to the wave of spiritual pressure that had been released moments ago and came around the corner to face up against him. Grimmjow grinned as he ascended towards the ground smirking at the two soul reapers. It was clear that Ichigo and Rukia were flabbergasted at the amount of spiritual pressure coming from him. Nina hid out of the way so that she could not be seen.

"Which one of you is the strongest?" Grimmjow asked eyeing both of them that stood before him. Ichigo and Rukia gasped. "Who's gonna take me on?" His eyes filled with the lust for battle.

"Ichigo we have to run." Rukia shouted to Ichigo and the second that she turned to him, Grimmjow pierced her in the stomach with his hand then threw her down like she were just a toy for his amusement.

"Huh, I figured it wasn't you. That's no surprised.

"Rukia." Ichigo shouted then he turned and ran after Grimmjow but Grimmjow easily and stopped it with his wrist not really focusing on his target then he flicked Ichigo away with his pinkie.

"Hey, are you even trying, soul reaper? I don't wanna waste the effort of killing you if you're not at maximum strength. I'm giving you a break kid, I'm willing to wait for you until you summon your bankai... You'd better do it, or I'll punch you full of holes like I did to that soul reaper over there." Grimmjow waited for a second then his smirk grew. Ichigo looked over to Rukia's limp body on the ground. "What's the matter, too scared to fight?" Ichigo swore before making up his mind that he was going to fight releasing his bankai. Ichigo set off a bomb of spiritual pressure as he transformed into his bankai mode then went after Grimmjow. Grimmjow easily dodged his attacks then kicked Ichigo away from him sonidoing over beside him to throw a punch to the face. Ichigo flash-stepped away behind him but Grimmjow dodged. Ichigo swung his sword and Grimmjow caught it wrapping all of his fingers around the sharp blade not shedding any blood or even getting cut. Grimmjow threw Ichigo across the street by his sword then sonido again to kick Ichigo to the ground. Ichigo struggled to get up on his own two feet as Grimmjow launched himself like a rocket towards him. Ichigo swung his sword but Grimmjow easily blocked it again then kicked Ichigo sending spit flying out of his mouth.

"Ichigo." Nina shouted. Ichigo lay on the ground almost motionless and Grimmjow quickly paced himself towards him smiling the whole way until his shadow covered Ichigo. He then grabbed Ichigo by the shirt and held him up and punched him directly in the face many times faster than any earthly thing with no intention to stop. "Ichigo." Nina shouted again. "Stop, Grimmjow stop it." Grimmjow manically laughed the whole time as blood sprayed across him and Ichigo. After what seemed like minutes of Grimmjow punching Ichigo continuously in the face, he punched him so high that he used sonido to kick him back down to the earth then kicked him once more across the street. "Grimmjow stop it." Nina shouted as she ran after him. Grimmjow mocked Ichigo and did not notice Nina running after him. She jumped onto Grimmjow locking herself around his upper body to stop him from doing anything.

"What the h***?" Grimmjow shouted as he was now carrying the weight of Nina on him.

"Grimmjow stop it please. Don't hurt Ichigo anymore." Grimmjow moved around a little bit trying to get her off but she stuck on him.

"N-Nina." Ichigo said realizing that was Nina's voice that he was hearing.

"Don't hurt him anymore please. Stop."

"Tch, what do you care about this worthless soul reaper so much?" Grimmjow questioned.

"He's my friend and he's been so nice to me since I came to this place. I don't even deserve his kindness for serving Aizen." Nina shouted. Grimmjow ripped her off of him then threw her against the building.

"Nina." Ichigo said getting up. Grimmjow looked over to him. "Getsuga Tenshou." Ichigo said releasing his full power catching Grimmjow off guard but still managing to block it. Grimmjow stood there for a moment before releasing his guard.

"D***. What was that? Ulquiorra didn't mention that move in his report about your attacks, soul reaper... Not a word." Ichigo panted as he looked up to Grimmjow.

"Stay away from Nina." He ordered. Grimmjow then laughed harder that Nina's ever heard.

"You have no idea." Grimmjow started. "It may turn out that you're worth killing after all."

"Grimmjow you idiot. You have no reason to do this." Nina shouted and Grimmjow looked over to her with a serious look on his face. His and Nina's eyes grew wide as the familiar zipping sound was heard followed by Tousen walking out wielding his Zanpakuto. He flash-stepped behind Grimmjow.

"Put your sword away, Grimmjow." He said.

"You wanna explain to me why you're here?" Grimmjow demanded.

"You ask why? You can't be serious... You chose to invade the World of the Living on your own and you took five arrancars without permission. Then you lost them it battle... You have disobeyed orders. You understand that much don't you? Lord Aizen is quite upset with you Grimmjow." Tousen walked a few steps away and then unzipped another portal. Grimmjow scowled at him. "Come. Your punishment for these acts shall be decided in Hueco Mundo."

"Tch, fine then let's go." Grimmjow said taking a few steps to the portal.

"Hey you, hold on." Ichigo shouted making Grimmjow turn around. "Where the h*** do you think you're going?"

"Shut up soul reaper. I'm going home, back home to Hueco Mundo."

"No you're not. You come here and you attack us then you just leave? You gotta be kidding me. Get back down here. This fight isn't over till I say it is d***it."

"Get over it." Grimmjow shouted. "The only reason why you're still alive is because I'm leaving. Consider yourself lucky. You're in no shape to win, just look at you. You're all burnt out. You haven't got much left. Even if you were able to keep going, you wouldn't stand a chance against me in my release mode. Don't forget my name, soul reaper, and you better pray that you never hear it again: Grimmjow Jaggerjaques because the next time you hear my name, you'll be a dead man. I promise." Grimmjow finished as the portal closed in front of him.

"D***it." Ichigo said as he fell to the ground.

"Ichigo." Nina called out running to his side. "Don't worry, I'll call Orihime and Hanataro then they can heal you." Nina said texting the two.

"You... you know that guy?" Ichigo said. Nina's heart raced. How was she going to tell him without him knowing all the time she spends in Hueco Mundo.

"Y-yeah. Kind of." Nina started. "I've seen him scout the area before and noticed his weird mask so I made conversation with him and found out his name. That's all." Ichigo's muscles relaxed after hearing this.

"Oh, alright." Ichigo panted. Hanataro, Orihime, Uryuu and Renji ran around the corner as fast as they could and aided the two as best as they could.

"Man I'm glad that's over." Renji said as he and Uryuu just finished a battle with one of Grimmjow's fracción. "Ikkaku and captain Hitsugaya are still out there."

"Rangiku is with him." Orihime said as she used her powers and began to reject the damage that was done to Ichigo.

"Are you alright Nina?" Hanataro asked noticing that Nina had taken a bit of damage herself.

"Oh I'm okay. Don't worry about me, just help Ichigo and Rukia."

"Nina." Ichigo panted getting Nina's attention. He smiled. "Thanks."


	36. Chapter 36

Tomorrow, Nina guaranteed herself to be very happy. Because her brother Daren unexpectedly came to Karakura town, Nina felt as though she had to be there too in order to avoid getting into trouble with him. Being away from Hueco Mundo meant being away from Ulquiorra. She was happy that she was free from captivity, she was still disappointed but that would all change tomorrow. Nina grabbed a glass of water and some painkillers and brought them to Daren's dark room. As soon as she opened the door, he shouted with his hands on his head.

"Aaaaaagh. This headache. You're letting the light in." Daren yelled. After passing out from Grimmjow's spiritual pressure, he woke up with the worst headache. Nina closed the door behind her. "Do you have to close the door so loudly?"

"I'm sorry but you wanted me to get the painkillers." Nina frowned. "By the way, yelling only makes it worse."

"I think I've got a migraine. I may have to miss work." Daren said and Nina froze.

"D***it, he can't get sick. I'm supposed to go back to Hueco Mundo tomorrow to see Ulquiorra and I won't be able to if he gets sick." Nina thought. Daren sunk into his bed in the fetal position with his hands putting pressure on his head to soften the pain. Nina set the water and painkiller on his night table then backed out of the room trying to open and close the door as quietly as possible. "This isn't supposed to happen." Nina walked over to the kitchen and placed her hands on the countertop to think. "There's gotta be a way that I can make him better so that he can get out of my life sooner." Nina's head jerked up as an idea popped into her brain. She ran across the room jumping over chairs and tables in order to get over to the phone.

"Shut up." Daren shouted after Nina had finished moving. Nina began dialling Orihime's number to get her help. Nina prayed as it rang four times before Orihime picked it up. She skipped the small talk and asked her to come over as quick as she could.

"I'm here." Orihime sang bursting through the door half an hour later. Nina shushed her and pointed to Daren's room. A low moan was heard shortly after. "What can I do for you Nina?"

"Orihime, you've got to help me." Nina whispered with emphasis. "I told you that once Daren is gone I can go see Ulquiorra right?" Orihime nodded. "Well I was going to see him tomorrow but Daren is sick so he is planning on staying home until he is better and I cannot wait any longer.

"Say no more. You want me to use my healing powers on him don't you?"

"Please? He's had this headache ever since Grimmjow released his spiritual pressure. I don't think that Daren could handle it so he passed out."

"How am I able to heal him without him knowing about my powers?" Orihime asked. Nina thought.

"I have a perfect idea." Nina said. She told Orihime to wait there then she snuck into Daren's room alone.

"What do you want?" Daren asked with a pillow overtop of his head. Nina breathed in deeply as she closed the door behind her.

"Brother, I need to ask you something."

"What is it? Can't it wait?" Daren said lifting the pillow off of his head. Unexpectedly, Nina punched his face as hard as she could to knock him out then let Orihime inside.

"Way to go. That sure worked. It may have been harsh."

"Oh please, that was gentle for me. Just make sure that you heal his broken nose too." Nina laughed. Orihime released her powers and put a healing barrier overtop of the unconscious Daren. There was a brief moment of silence between them as Nina watched Orihime's powers. "How did you get these amazing powers, Orihime?"

"I don't really know. Urahara said that these powers were sleeping inside of me and they all of a sudden woke up once Ichigo was in trouble. Ever since then, I have learned to bring them out whenever I need them." Orihime explained.

"That's so cool. Your power of 'healing' is very useful because there's always a time where someone will get hurt."

"Yeah, but I don't ever want to see my friends get hurt. It's not a pleasant thing to watch."

"That's for sure. It would be hard seeing some that you love so much and suddenly they are gone forever." Nina said unconsciously curling her hands up into fists thinking of when she lost her parents and then Ulquiorra. Orihime nodded. There was silence again between the two for a few more moments.

"So you say that you're going back to see Ulquiorra tomorrow?" Orihime asked breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I'm so excited. It feels like it has been months."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"Don't you remember what we talked about in school the other day?"

"Of course but I can't tell him that and I told you why."

"Yes but you said it yourself that you want him to know."

"I know, I can't just say it whenever, it has to be a special moment for the both of us." Nina began to feel a knot being tied in her stomach. "It's gonna be way harder telling him then just telling you as a friend. I wonder what he will say back or do?"

"The important thing is that you tell him or else you will never know what he may say or do. Even though he may not love you, at least you will get this burden off of you."

"I know." Nina sighed. Orihime set her hands down as her powers dissipated.

"There, all finished."

"Good. We should get out of here before he wakes up." Nina said. Orihime nodded and then they quietly snuck out of the room and sat on the couch in the living room. "Thanks Orihime. I owe you big time."

"You're welcome. Happy I could help." Orihime smiled sweetly. Not even moments later, Daren came out rubbing his head and walked over to the fridge.

"Man I must have been so drunk, I can't even remember what happened since a few nights ago. If my boss finds out about this, I'll be in big trouble." Daren said taking out some orange juice and pouring it in a glass.

"Relax, there was no party. You just weren't feeling the best is all."

"Well that's a relief. I better get packing." Daren took his glass of orange juice with him into his room. As soon as he closed the door behind him, Nina almost squealed.

"I can't believe it worked." She said. Orihime laughed.

"Yeah, I'd never think that I would be able to cure sickness."

"Hey that's right. This means that you can save the sick not just the injured."

"I wonder if I could cure cancer or the common cold." Orihime fantasized.

"You have the most amazing power, you could help so many people."

"Too bad I can't just clone myself. That way I'd be able to save all the sick and injured people in this world." Orihime thought out loud as she walked over to the door. "I have to get going back home now and do some chores."

"Thanks so much for your help Orihime." Nina thanked holding the door open.

"No problem. Tell me how everything goes between you and Ulquiorra when you see him."

"I will." Nina nodded.


	37. Chapter 37

Nina ran to the park as fast as she could knowing that Ulquiorra would be there waiting for her. Seven days of torture were finally about to end as she was promised that she would be able to see him again. She completely ignored the odd passing person and made her way to the spot of their reunion. It was late enough so that no one will be around to see her talking to no one when really he will be standing right in front of her. Her heart was more excited than it has ever felt but Nina stopped for a moment as she realized that she was nervous. She placed a hand on her stomach to try to calm the butterflies. She almost felt as if she were panicking.

"No, I can't feel like this now." She cursed but she forced herself to move forward only this time she paced herself to give time to calm down. Once she seen his slender figure there facing away from her, her heart raced and felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Eyes slightly filling up with water, she took a moment to wipe them and focus on not looking like a fool. It's him, it's really him. Her smile widened while staring at him after what felt like forever. Ulquiorra seemed to be enjoying himself there. He seemed so relaxed. His eyes were almost closed as he felt the warm sun against his skin with his hands in his pockets then he looked over his shoulder. Nina's heart jumped upon noticing that he was looking in her direction. "Ulquiorra." Her spine tingled after his name rolled off of her tongue. His eyes softened once he laid his eyes on hers. She dashed across the grassy field and enclosed the space between them. It seemed like another seven days had passed until she was finally close enough to him for contact. She automatically wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest and he put his arms around her.

"Nina." He said in his typical monotone voice but Nina could sense his excitement.

"Ulquiorra." She started. "I've missed you so much. You don't know how long this week has felt for me."

"Nina, it felt as if I were dying every day that I was not with you. You have become a part of my life in a big way. I want you to promise me that you will never leave again. Take me with you where ever you go."

"I promise." She smiled as she caressed his face. He looked into her eyes as he slowly moved his face closer to hers...

"Ulquiorra!" Nina said as her eyes shot open in the morning as soon as she woke up. She groaned after the dream then leapt off of her bed with excitement and a smile on her face even though she knew that Daren wouldn't be leaving until later afternoon. She needed as much time as she could to get ready. Nina could hear the birds chirping outside and sighed from their beautiful melody and she felt like the day was perfect. It felt a little too perfect but she shrugged it off and ignored any feeling of doubt, as long as she would see Ulquiorra again today, it would be perfect. She went to her full sized mirror and tied her messy hair back into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face until she showered. Daren was packing up his suitcase with most of his clean clothes and Nina leaned at the door frame watching him work with her arms folded across her chest. All his suits, ties and fancy shoes were packed but his jeans and t-shirts were left here as it was completely unacceptable to wear jeans at his work. He looked as if he were heading for an important meeting wearing his most expensive outfit and his hair was well kept.

"Can I help?" Nina was strangely in the mood to offer assistance rather than her ignorance.

"Uh, sure." Daren began trying not to sound surprised. "Grab my laptop from my room." Nina nodded and in no time returned with a thin high-tech laptop and set it on the table. "I gotta do some work on there before I leave today. Can you plug it in by the couch?"

"Kay." Nina said getting the charger chord then plugging it in. She sat there for a while trying to scan her fingerprint in order to start it up. 'Unrecognized' the screen read but that disappeared and asked for a back up password. Nina, out of boredom, attempted to hack in to the system knowing that Daren would be watching. She typed in his birthday on first attempt but the computer buzzed at the correct answer and a window popped up explaining so.

"Hey, don't go logging on there. There's confidential information in there that no one outside of my working facility can lay eyes on. It might be the end of me if that happens."

"Sorry. Looks like you finally got some better passwords. Years ago, before you ever got this job it was so easy to log on."

"That was before my career was dependant on a password."

"Yeah but I managed to find some embarrassing pictures of you drunk with your friends back then when you had such obvious ones." Nina said turning her sight to his. When she looked at him, she thought that he was Ulquiorra for a moment packing his bags and couldn't believe her eyes. Her scepticism caused her to catch her head in her hands. Daren looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I don't know what happened but I suddenly don't feel well." She said noticing a nauseous feeling circling in her stomach.

"Maybe you should lie down for a while." Daren suggested.

"I think I'm going to go to my room." She said holding her head as she walked back to her room. She gently shut the door behind her then fell onto her bed trying to control her sudden feel of discomfort. "What the heck is happening?" She asked herself. "I don't care what is happening but I can't miss seeing Ulquiorra today." Upon saying Ulquiorra's name, she was come over with and uncontrollable dizziness. Realizing that Ulquiorra was the source of this problem, she did everything in her power to forget about him for the time being. "D*** he's not even here and he's torturing me." She cursed. She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths feeling much better as she concentrated on the evenness of her intakes. After a moment, she opened her eyes back up and decided to have a shower. By now she would have two hours before she has to leave but she tried not to think too much and cause any unwanted feelings. She quietly hummed to herself as the water rained down on her rinsing the shampoo away from her waist-length, dark brown hair. When she got out dripping wet, she tilted her head to the side as she looked at herself in the mirror and decided to leave her hair out of her braids for once. It was an occasion to dress up a little bit so it was decided that she would straighten her hair instead of putting it out of the way in her ordinary loose braids though it would take a while to blow dry. Once her hair dried, she took the straightener to her hair and pressed it flat with the hot metal. It took just as much effort to straighten than blow dry. She inspected her hair in the mirror for a moment before covering herself up with a towel and sneaking to her room.

When she closed the door, she walked over to her wardrobe and picked out the nicest, yet not too dressy, clothing. She came across a tank top that had a touch of girliness to it from the ribbon around low the neckline. It was tight at the breasts and loose around the stomach. She knew that she could not get away with this outfit if Daren where to see it so she covered it up with a hoodie and threw on some dark jean capris that where stylishly folded up at the bottom. She spent a good half hour in front of the full length mirror in her room making sure that her hair and makeup were perfect and by the time she was ready, she left her room to see Daren off.

"Well I guess it's time for me to go." Daren said throwing the strap from his laptop case over his shoulder. "I don't know when I'll be home next."

"That's fine." Was all Nina said at first then decided to add something. "I'll be here regardless."

"Take care of everything while I'm gone."

"Okay." Nina nodded. Daren lifted his suitcase in his other hand and walked towards the door. Nina stood there waiting and Daren took a quick look back at Nina's unusual formal appearance (except the hoodie was rather odd) before he closed the door. Nina went to the window and lifted the curtains to watch him walk out to his car. She stalked him making sure that he put everything in his car before climbing into the driver's seat then he took off. She turned around and leaned against the wall once his car was out of sight and sighed and took a moment. Nina pushed herself off of the wall and threw off of her hoodie then returned to her same position on the wall and closed her eyes. She smiled.


	38. Chapter 38

Nina's stomach ached of anxiety. Who knew that she would be so nervous of going back just after seven days. She was excited to see Ulquiorra but terrified at the same time. She felt as if it were years and wondered if he had changed at all while she was gone but not a whole lot could really happen in such a short time period. If she chickened out of going to see him, she would just be even more nervous to go see him the next time so she forced herself out the door and started towards the park. The whole time she was thinking about him and her pace grew faster with excitement then slower with apprehension. Just around the next corner was the park. She stopped herself in order to catch her breath and gather herself. Nina slid down the side of the wall then buried her face in her arms. Why was this so hard for her? She wanted more than anything to be with Ulquiorra but it was feeling impossible at the moment. Suddenly, Nina heard the familiar unzipping sound from where she was sitting. He was here. He was waiting for her. The thought of him waiting there made her heart jump. At first she got up and ran to the corner but her feet suddenly stopped again. She couldn't feel her legs.

Nina's heart quickly picked up every passing minute that she was standing there building up her self confidence to just go around the corner. She couldn't do it. Everything was going against her. Her body and now even her mind. No matter how much she wanted to get up and run there was always a voice of doubt growing getting stronger and stronger. It wasn't possible. Not today. Nina sat there for a while longer not paying attention to the setting sun. The park began to clear out and she figured that no one would be there, except for him. She had never heard a second zipping sound so he couldn't have gone back to Hueco Mundo. It had hardly been 15 minutes, Ulquiorra despite his appearance had enough patience to stand there all night waiting for her if that's what it took. Nina's eyes began to water. She felt so bad for not going around the corner in the first place. He was probably wondering where she was. That's it, she was going to do it. She closed her eyes as she paced herself to the corner. Once she overcame that obstacle, she opened one eye then walked around it.

There he was.

Her eyes began to water but she slapped herself to try to stop it. She talked to herself and said she wasn't a baby. Nina focused on his slender figure that was facing away from her as she walked. She wanted to feel him and make sure he was real. She wanted to feel him against her. She wanted him to feel her heart beating against him as they embrace but didn't feel like he was getting closer at all.

"Ulquiorra." She tried to call but she could not hear herself. Nina's feet stopped moving once he turned around and waited for him to say something. Finally, he was here.

"What took you so long?" Was all he said. Nina's face instantly turned to shock upon hearing this. She waited so long to be with him and to hear his voice and that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. He hasn't changed. As Nina still stood there in shock, her eyes instantly filled up with water then poured out once she dropped to her knees. Suddenly, without control, she bawled her eyes out and whaled almost louder than she ever has. Nina put her head to the ground while screaming. At first, the way that Ulquiorra understood it, she was happy so she was crying. The last time that he was with her she cried out of happiness but once he seen her throwing her arms repetitively against the ground, he knew that something wasn't right. Ulquiorra gasped once he realized that she was crying out of sorrow and stood there not knowing what to do. Nina completely broke down in front of him and lost control of herself. "Nina." He called. Calling her did no good so he went over to her and knelt down beside her. "Nina are you alright? Are you hurt?" No answer, rather, she could not. She was taken over by her overwhelming emotions. He tried touching her but she quickly moved away from him so he stood back up and in a hurry, opened up a portal to the throne room. He went into the dinner hall where all of the Espada were residing and called out to Aizen. "Aizen."

"What is it, Ulquiorra?" Aizen said calmly looking up from his tea. For once, he could sense some kind of emotion coming from Ulquiorra. He actually seemed worried.

"It's Nina. She's not acting like herself."

"How so?"

"She's crying uncontrollably and there's nothing I can do to stop her."

"Oh?" Aizen looked up with more attention. "Gin, Tousen. Come with me. Ulquiorra, where is she?" Gin and Tousen nodded in response to the emergency situation and followed Aizen with Ulquiorra out of the portal and into the park. By then it was completely dark and there was no moon at that night. Nina was easily located as they followed the screaming to her exact spot.

"Oh my." Gin said as his usual grin faded from his face.

"That doesn't seem good." Tousen said. Aizen kneeled down beside her hoping that his words would calm her.

"Nina, what's the matter?" Aizen said but there was no words for a response more so, she cried louder if even possible. "Gin, Tousen. Carry her back to Hueco Mundo and take her to her room and get Szayel to examine her immediately."

"Right away." Tousen said. Aizen unzipped a portal for the two of them then they rushed Nina down the hallway as fast as they could. Ulquiorra stood behind with Aizen wondering what just happened. Aizen looked down to the floor a little bit saddened with the way that Nina had returned to Hueco Mundo but he turned around and walked the other way.

"Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra stopped him. "I don't understand what happened. How could a human cry so much all of a sudden?"

"Seems she was bottling up her emotions inside for so long that she just cracked." Was all he said then he continued to walk down the hall in the opposite direction.

"How come she cracked out of nowhere?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"Did you do or say something to trigger her emotions?" Aizen asked before being completely out of site. Ulquiorra still stood there flabbergasted of the whole situation. He thought back to what he said to her. Upon hearing Nina scream once more, it came to his mind. 'What took you so long?' was what he said to her. How could he have done this to her. He waited a week to be with her and to see her smile again and the first thing that he says to her was something so cold and careless. Ulquiorra looked down while slamming his fist against the wall creating a crater. He used his other hand to bury his face in it. He was still a monster after all.


	39. Chapter 39

Ulquiorra had never been filled with such confusion. It was a weird combination of confusion and regret that made him wonder about Nina's episode. He paced outside of her room and wanted to take a peek inside to see her condition but he feared that would only make her worse again. He feared that now every time she sees his face she will cry. Every now and then he could hear Nina cry again then it would settle down for a moment but she would start up again. Szayel was in the room talking to her and trying to figure out what was wrong with her medically. He wished that somehow he could turn back time and take back what he said but he knew that would never be an option but then it dawned in him. He recalled Nina saying something to him before but he couldn't think of the word. She used it in a situation of sorrow when she felt bad for something she did or said, a way of expressing regret. If Ulquiorra had ever used this word in his life, remembering it wouldn't be as big of a problem than what it is becoming. He knew that if he just remembered the word then he could say it to Nina and make her feel better.

Ulquiorra paced himself back to his room thinking of a way to remember the word she used but he couldn't think of it. Baraggan was playing chess with Starrk in one of the passing rooms. Ulquiorra decided to walk in and see if Baraggan knew the answer since he was good at riddles. Starrk's head rested on his fist with his eyes closed while waiting for his turn.

"I am looking for something important." Ulquiorra started. Baraggan lifted his head and Starrk lifted his lazy gaze.

"What is it?" Baraggan asked.

"I haven't any idea. That is why I cannot find it." Ulquiorra said. "Something that a human says out of regret."

"D*** you?" Starrk attempted. Ulquiorra shook his head.

"Something out of sorrow used in a time of regret."

"Is this a crossword puzzle?" Baraggan asked.

"You might be able to say that." Ulquiorra replied.

"How many letters does it have?"

"I don't have the advantage of knowing how many letters. I have no hint whatsoever." Ulquiorra explained.

"Alright. That puts you at a disadvantage."

"Indeed."

"Unfortunately I can't think of anything helpful at the moment. My guesses would probably raise more questions."

"I see." Ulquiorra's eyes fell then he turned around and left. He figured that the only way to get help was to go to the humans himself. He figured that Nina's friends would be able to help. He went to his room and put on his hekikon so that he could be seen by the humans then he snapped his fingers and opened up a portal then stepped through. It was night still but Ulquiorra thought nothing of the time and walked in a direction to see one human, or soul reaper, that he had in mind. As he walked out of the park, he realized that there were still a fair amount of people out but he focused on his destination. His pace was faster than usual since for once he had a reason to be in a hurry. Ulquiorra looked up to the sign above a door to a convenience store then went in.

"Thank you have a nice day." Hanataro said handing a customer a tray of food. Hanataro looked over then smiled and waved. "Oh, nice to see you Ulquiorra." He grew nervous once he remembered that Ulquiorra doesn't show emotions. "What can I do for you today?"

"I need assistance."

"That's what I'm here for, what can I get for you?" Hanataro said.

"It's about Nina." He said.

"Oh." He said in a low voice. "Is something wrong with her?"

"She is not well, and I'm afraid I caused it." Ulquiorra began.

"How can I help?"

"I am trying to think of a word. A word commonly used amongst humans."

"Let me see... there's please and thank you that are commonly used out of gratitude." Hanataro thought not remembering that it would be a word used to make her feel better. Since Nina was not well, thank you or please would not fit the context at all. Ulquiorra was sure that he had never used this word before in his life. He always said please and thank you when addressing lord Aizen but no one else. It must be a word that he wouldn't even say in front of him. "You're welcome is used after the other person says thank you." That for sure wasn't it either.

"It is a word used to express regret."

"Oh, you mean sorry?" Hanataro said. That's it. That was the word.

"Yes."

"Sorry?"

"That's the word."

"Are you saying that you needed me to help you with that word and you actually couldn't think of it on your own?" Hanataro asked a little surprised.

"I've never said that word to anyone. More like, I've never been in a situation where I would need to say that. It's just something that I never really learned how to say or even had the desire to say... until now." Ulquiorra explained.

"Well I'll teach you."

"Hm?"

"I'll teach you how to do it properly since you've never said that before."

"Alright. How do you say it?"

"Well you can't just say the word itself because it seems like you haven't put your heart into it. You want it coming from the heart like you really mean it." Hanataro said and Ulquiorra closed his eyes in disappointment. "What's wrong?"

"I can't do it." Ulquiorra eventually responded. Hanataro's shoulders fell.

"Come on you at least have to try."

"I can't put my heart into it."

"Why not?"

"I..." Ulquiorra paused for a moment. Hanataro desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. "I can't right now."

"Okay, try just saying the words 'I'm sorry'. Go on." Ulquiorra looked at Hanataro then down to his fidgeting hands.

"I, uh..." Ulquiorra struggled. "I am, uh... I'm... so... sorr..."

"Come on you can do it." Hanataro encouraged.

"I'm, I am... s-so... s-s-sor..."

"Almost there."

"S-sorr." Ulquiorra stopped. Hanataro was surprised how difficult this was turning out to be but he showed no signs of discouragement.

"You almost had it." Hanataro said but Ulquiorra did not continue.

"I can't." There was silence for a moment.

"May I ask what is wrong with Nina?"

"I hadn't seen Nina for seven days. After those seven days slowly passed we had arranged prior to the seven days that we would meet in the park because she fears that if her older brother sees me, he will ban her from ever seeing me."

"Yeah, she told me about him and how over protective he is."

"When I arrived at the park right at the time we were supposed to meet, she was not there. I grew concerned that she did not make it here but regardless I waited twenty minutes until she finally arrived." Ulquiorra stopped. Hanataro noticed his hands that were rested on the table curled up into fists. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Finally she was there after seven days and the first thing that came out of my mouth was... 'what took you so long?' Now I just want to take back what I said. She cried uncontrollably and did not stop so I sought help. I am keeping my distance from her because I don't want her to cry anymore. If she sees me she may recall those cold words. I just want her to stop so that I can see her smile again." There was silence for a short moment until an idea came into Hanataro's head.

"Well if you can't say sorry directly, just say that you want her to stop so that she can smile again. That is very close to saying you're sorry. I think those words would make her happy." Ulquiorra lifted his head back up a little. "The way you told that story to me. I felt you put your heart into that." Hanataro's words caused Ulquiorra's head to lift and saw him smiling. Hanataro got up. "Well it's getting late, I have to close the shop down since I'm the only one here. Let me know how it goes with you two." Ulquiorra nodded then he got up and left without expressing his gratefulness.


	40. Chapter 40

Once again Ulquiorra found himself pacing outside of Nina's room. He couldn't hear Nina anymore but every now and then he could hear Szayel talking inside. He was rather annoyed at this point on how long Szayel had been with her. He may be medically examining her but he still didn't trust him with Nina but he figured that he should stay out until there are any signs of change. For once, he felt sincere anxiousness but he tried to avoid it and focused on how he would apologize.

The door opened and out came Szayel. Ulquiorra looked at him waiting for a report on Nina's condition. Szayel turned to Ulquiorra and put a finger over his lips suggesting silence.

"Nina is in there sleeping. You can go in there but that may be dangerous. Just try to be quiet when you do." He explained then left. Ulquiorra breathed in before gently opening the door. It was quiet. He closed the door behind him as quietly as he could then walked over to the other side of the bed where Nina was facing in her sleep. When he looked at her, the first thing that he noticed was the tear stains on her cheeks that reflected in the moons light. She was still crying, even in her sleep. He stood over her with his hands in his pockets just gazing at her for the longest time but eventually he bent down and levelled his head with hers. He watched the rising and falling of her stomach and was confident that she was in a deep sleep before he dared to try something. He softly lay his hand on her cheek and gently wiped the tears away. Upon doing this, he noticed something. She was smiling. In her sleep. He had waited so long to see her smile. His hollow hole suddenly grew hot and he was pleased to have this pleasant feeling again only when he was around her.

Soon her tears stopped falling. Ulquiorra still had his hand placed on her cheek but lifted it up and ran it through her chocolate brown hair. He never imagined her hair to feel this soft and comforting between his fingers, he wanted to do it again. A little more coarsely he put his fingers in her hair again and ran it through. He stopped as Nina suddenly moved a little bit. She unconsciously lifted her hand and held it there. Ulquiorra lifted his other hand and linked his fingers with hers. Again she smiled and his hollow hole grew hotter. He felt a desire something that he has never felt before. Nina was always making him experience new things even when she was not aware of it. Ulquiorra felt the desire to smile. His eyes softened and he could feel his lips tighten but he stopped himself before the corners pulled up. There was no reason to smile. Nina was not awake so that he could share it with her. His face grew serious again. He unlinked his fingers from her and took his hand out of her hair then stood up facing away from her. He gazed into the silver sand dunes of Hueco Mundo.

He spent a good hour in her room near Nina just to be with her. Every time he gathered the courage to look back at her it warmed him to see her still smiling. Eventually he felt bold enough to sit down on her bed just to look at her again. He stared deeply into her closed eyes and wondered what she was dreaming. It took him a while to realize that she had just opened her eyes. His anxiousness returned wondering what her reaction would be once she sees him. She looked at his green demonic eyes and his at hers for a while and was not sure if she was really awake.

"Ulquiorra." Nina whispered.

"You're awake?" He asked and she nodded.

"Did I really go back to Karakura town?"

"I'm afraid so." He said almost in a hush tone. Nina closed her eyes again almost in a sense of humiliation then put her hands over them. "Nina." Ulquiorra said. Starring at her covered face he noticed a tear slide down her cheek. Anxiousness returned to him not knowing how to stop Nina.

"I'm sorry." She said still covering her eyes. Ulquiorra quickly tried to think of a way to stop her tears but he grabbed her wrists and brought them away from her eyes forcing her to look to him. He looked at her silently for a while and she was stunned by his forceful actions.

"Please don't... say that." He started. Nina was confused. "You haven't done anything."

"W-what do you mean?" Nina questioned then Ulquiorra dropped her hands.

"Nina. I want you to stop crying... please." He said with no change in expression. Nina always found this trait so amazing by Ulquiorra. He could keep a straight face and voice but she had a feeling that he wasn't holding back. He was being completely honest with her. "Last night, I waited for you." Nina gasped. "You wouldn't come but I knew that you were there. I could sense your presence."

"If you knew I was there, how come you didn't come get me, like you do all those other times?" Nina asked.

"I wanted to give you a choice."

"A choice?"

"Yes. You've wanted to leave Hueco Mundo since you first started living here. I wanted to give you the choice of staying where would make you happy or return to Hueco Mundo. I did not want to force you. I wanted you to be happy with your decision whatever it may be."

"Even if it meant never seeing you again?"

"Correct."

"Why are you telling me this?" Nina was shocked at Ulquiorra's action. He lowered his head almost as if he were pleading.

"Nina. I have caused you so much pain. From the beginning and even last night I couldn't live with seeing you cry like that because of my words.

"I am so sorry." He finished still with his head lowered. There was a moment of silence but Ulquiorra noticed that Nina was crying again. He was confused whether or not he apologized properly. Apologies weren't supposed to bring tears but on this situation it did.

"Ulquiorra I missed you so much." She burst out and fell into his arms. Ulquiorra remembered being embraced before by Nina so he used the memories of his past experience to hug her back. "I was so alone without you." Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he tightened his embrace on her and put his hand on the back of her head to stroke her hair for comfort. Nina continued to cry for a while and Ulquiorra continued to hold her in his arms for comfort. "You do have a heart, Ulquiorra. It may not be where you would expect it to be." She whispered sending a chill down his spine. Upon hearing this, Ulquiorra exhaled with relief that Nina was back to her usual self.

"Help! Help! Soul reaper! Soul reaper!" Shouted two of Szayel's fracción; Lumina and Verona. The two round arrancar's ran through the halls of Las Noches repeating those few words.

"Soul reaper?" Nina asked confused.

"How did they get in here?" Ulquiorra thought out loud. "I must go to lord Aizen for orders, please wait here." Ulquiorra got up and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he glanced back at Nina who was still sitting on her bed. He softened his gaze at her upon seeing her concerned expression. "I will return." He promised before walking away.


	41. Chapter 41

"What's the big deal?" Grimmjow said as he was the last one to barge into the meeting room, all eyes were on him.

"It appears that we've got a soul reaper running around in Hueco Mundo." Szayel said casually shifting his gaze away from Grimmjow.

"Yeah, he seems to be very strong. He's taken out any hollow that stands in his way." Nnoitora laughed. "He's done well to make it this far but he hasn't even come across an arrancar so he may not be a threat at all."

"Do not underestimate this one. I've seen what he is capable of back in the Soul Society and he can do some pretty harsh damage." Gin added.

"Do we know him at all?" Yammy asked. As soon as he asked that, Tousen turned out the lights and Aizen activated a holographic view of the soul reaper running through the dunes of Hueco Mundo. Everyone took a look at the fine brown haired soul reaper but Ulquiorra and Aizen where the only ones who knew who this guy really was although they've never met.

"Who is that?" Starrk lazily asked.

"That is none other than Daren Barasuke... Nina's brother." Aizen announced. "It seems that he found out where Nina is living and wants to take her back, but I won't allow it."

"What rank is he?" Halibel asked.

"Does it matter? He is coming to where he doesn't belong. That's good enough reason to get rid of him." Grimmjow said.

"Lord Aizen has not given any orders yet." Tousen spoke mainly to Grimmjow.

"I could take him out no problem." Nnoitora said confidently.

"He looks pretty weak to me." Yammy thought out loud.

"What are your orders, lord Aizen?" Ulquiorra said in his usual monotone voice not showing any hint of eagerness whatsoever.

"Elimination." Was all Aizen said. Ulquiorra wasn't sure. Any other soul reaper he wouldn't think twice before exterminating but this one was Nina's brother so he wondered what she would think if he were to destroy him. Then again, Nina never seemed to be excited around her brother. Maybe he will be doing her a favour. Maybe someone else will be assigned to take care of the soul reaper. Aizen turned his gaze to Ulquiorra with a slight smirk. "I'm putting you in charge of this matter, Ulquiorra." Aizen said as if he knew exactly what Ulquiorra was thinking. Ulquiorra suddenly felt as if he were given a 50 lb burden to bear but he wasn't one to talk against Aizen.

"Yes, my lord." He said bowing his head.

"As for everyone else, I want you all to be on guard in case of infiltration. We know Nina is the target so I want everyone to be ready with your fracción. Although I'm sure that Ulquiorra can handle this matter on his own." Aizen said as his final words then he dismissed everyone. Ulquiorra did not pay attention to the fact that he was the last one to get up to leave the room, his mind was trying to figure out a dilemma that would affect the rest of Nina's life which would greatly play an impact on him. As he left the room, he looked down the hallway that he would take to get to Nina's room but he put his hands in his pockets and walked the other way.

Nina waited patiently in her room for Ulquiorra's return though it hadn't been that long since he went to Aizen. They were probably thinking up of a plan to stop this mysterious soul reaper. The words 'soul reaper' kept bouncing through her head as she was trying to figure out who specifically the intruder was if it was anybody she knew at all. She tried to figure out the identity as she recollected her first encounters with one. Ever since moving to Karakura town she had been encountering a lot of strangeness that she has now started to accept as normal. Ichigo was human but was also a substitute soul reaper then she met with Urahara and his 'family' as some may call it. She was attacked by a hollow and found out that the new exchange students, Toshiro, Rangiku, Yumichika, Ikkaku, Renji and Rukia were all soul reapers. Apparently there was a whole society of soul reapers that Hanataro told her about so it was probably no one she had ever met before. Probably some soul reaper gone mad and is out on a suicide mission. Nina's mind shifted back to the time that she was in the World of the Living for the week.

 _Nina sat in the diner where Hanataro worked with her head rested on her hand blankly staring at her strawberry shake. She sighed looking up at the clock then over to the calendar. Almost there... she thought to herself. Hanataro took off his work uniform and sat down at the same table with Nina and studied the longing expression on her face._

 _"_ _He did it again." She started._

 _"_ _Did what?" Hanataro responded._

 _"_ _He asked me about my guy friends."_

 _"_ _Oh. Well that isn't so bad."_

 _"_ _You don't know him. He thinks that all guys but him are evil and have only one thing on their mind. He was trying to find out if I liked anyone back or if there is someone else."_

 _"_ _Is there someone else?" Hanataro asked. Nina lifted her head from her hand and folded them on her lap. She nodded. A small blush went onto Hanataro's face but Nina never lifted her head to look at him._

 _"_ _I don't think he even realizes it at all." She finally spoke._

 _"_ _uh, u-um, that may n-not be true." Hanataro said causing Nina to abruptly lift her head. "Just because you can't see that doesn't mean it's true."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _I mean that it's only natural for one to hide their feelings from another, especially when you've known them for so long now. Y-you'll never really know if they feel the same, u-unless you tell them yourself." Hanataro said. Nina was so shocked to hear this from him. She had never thought about this much before but he was absolutely right... if he was human. However, Nina was certain that he wouldn't feel the same since he lacked emotions._

 _"_ _Thank you so much, Hanataro. Hearing that makes me feel so much better." She said kissing him on his cheek._

Nina smiled. Hanataro was so sweet. The whole time that she was with him, she couldn't stop thinking about Ulquiorra. She realized that the time that she had spent away from him actually deepened her feelings towards him almost to the point of expressing those to him but timing was a very critical issue.

The tapping from his shoes on the marble floor echoed throughout the hallway of Las Noches as he paced himself to a door at the end. Ulquiorra hadn't fully made up his mind about what to do in the situation that he was in. Should he spare Daren's life possibly saving Nina from sorrow or should he obey Aizen's words and kill the intruder. Either way he has to go there and attempt to stop him. Maybe there was no need for a fight. Maybe Daren would be so powerful that he could finish him off so that Ulquiorra didn't have to stain his hands with blood. That would be better than causing Nina any more pain.

Ulquiorra slipped his hand out of his pockets and pushed the door open and walked out onto a balcony that overlooked the white sand of Hueco Mundo. He needed to figure out Daren's reasoning for trying to take Nina back first before he decided if he was worth killing or being killed. Ulquiorra lifted his head up to the crescent shaped moon and spread out his wings then jumped off the ledge.


	42. Chapter 42

Ulquiorra kept his emerald eyes focused on the dunes of Hueco Mundo as he flew across the starless sky. Where could he be? He was accurately following the source of spiritual pressure that Daren was giving out, it's strange but he wasn't even trying to hide his invasion. He must be serious on taking Nina back. Ulquiorra lifted his eyes up to the horizon and noticed something happening in the distance so he increased his speed to check it out. As he got closer he realized that there was a fight going on. Not much of a fight. It was Daren and he managed to take out any hollow that jumped in the way without breaking into a sweat. He jumped off of one hollow to attack one that was coming straight at him, it was positive that he had some skills. Ulquiorra lowered himself to the surface of Hueco Mundo and silently landed then continued in his direction on foot.

Once Daren had cleared out all of the nearby hollows he stopped but did not sheath his Zanpakuto. He sensed that there was a presence of someone. Although the sand softened the footsteps, Daren could still hear Ulquiorra approaching him. The soul reaper gazed in his direction staring at the melancholic man with his hands in his pockets and the Espada at the well toned soul reaper with the unusual sword. Ulquiorra was unimpressed that it was already in its shikai mode and it was slightly wavy about half way down then it straightened out at the tip.

"You." Daren spoke in a low voice.

"What purpose does a soul reaper have here in Hueco Mundo?" Ulquiorra asked already knowing the answer.

"You could say that I'm a soul reaper but that probably wouldn't be a very accurate description."

"Why not? You wear the robes of a soul reaper and are wielding a Zanpakuto."

"Yes I have the robes and the sword but I left the Soul Society years ago so I have my own set of rules." Daren said gesturing with his one hand that wasn't on his sword. "The Soul Society was on the verge of exiling me for performing illegal acts on new weak soul reapers but before they did, I took my Zanpakuto and left."

"You experimented on weak souls?" Ulquiorra questioned not changing his tone.

"Exactly. I attempted to create my own kido, hado and bakudo spells and test them out on the weak souls. Now that I've been labelled as a wanted soul, you could say that I'm a soul reaper gone rogue."

"Why are you here in Hueco Mundo then?"

"I could sense the absence of her spiritual pressure in the World of the Living so I've come to take her back home... where she belongs."

"And what do you plan on doing to her once you have brought her back home?"

"Keep her away from you. I've seen you in the World of the Living with her and joining in on her daily activities. You've been with her for a long time now but this has to stop. I don't want you anywhere near her or the ways of the arrancars may rub off on her. She does not belong among the dead." Daren raised his voice. Ulquiorra stood there but his eyes gave a more deadly look towards Daren upon hearing this. He slipped one had out of his pocket and pointed his finger at Daren.

"Nina belongs wherever her heart wishes to be. Unfortunately, that is not your decision to make." Ulquiorra said charging up his cero. Daren lifted his sword and swatted the oncoming ball of energy aside.

"I've also noticed she has become very attached to you. If I were to successfully get past you and take her back to the World of the Living then there's no doubt that when I kill her she will become a hollow then I can continue my experiment with my spells. If I can successfully create and master them then I will be let back into the Soul Society for sure. Then they will ask me to join one of the 13 court guard squads." Ulquiorra's eyes grew wide and silently gasped. He knew that if Nina were to become a hollow then she would lose all memory of everything she experienced in her life. All the joys and sorrows would be wiped clean from her memory and then she would lose her heart too and feel nothing. He couldn't let that happen. Not after he told her how much he wanted to see her smile and went through the dilemma of apologizing. Ulquiorra slowly began to unsheathe his sword.

"Do not harm Nina." Ulquiorra said very firmly. Ulquiorra used sonido to get behind Daren then effortlessly swung his sword to his left side but Daren blocked it then threw Ulquiorra's sword back.

"It seems that you've grown attached to her as well. All the more reason to kill you." Ulquiorra noted those words but kept on fighting. "Although I thought that arrancar's couldn't feel anything. I guess even Aizen makes mistakes." Ulquiorra used sonido to get behind Daren's back again but this time swung his sword using his back hand. Again Daren effortlessly threw him back.

"He's fast." Ulquiorra thought before being interrupted by Daren swinging his Zanpakuto at him putting Ulquiorra on the defensive causing him to move backwards.

"I can tell... by the way you fight... that you're very passionate about protecting her." Daren said each time he swung his sword. Once Daren had finished talking Ulquiorra stopped Daren's sword with his hand and held it there for a moment. Daren gasped and stared into Ulquiorra's green demonic eyes as he tried desperately to move his sword down but Ulquiorra had a firm grip on it. Ulquiorra swung his sword at Daren from the side but Daren was forced to retaliate. "You've got some skill, for an arrancar. Let's see your rank." Daren said slicing Ulquiorra's jacket a few times to open it up. Ulquiorra let him step back to get a look at the number that was on his tattooed on his chest. Daren lowered his sword then stood up strait with a smirk on his face.

"Funny? What do you find so amusing? From what I've heard from lord Aizen, the strength that you possess would only reach the level of fifth seat. That's hardly a laughing matter when compared to the rank of any Espada."

"Yes but that was over 100 years ago. You can't expect some one's power level to stay the same for such a long period of time do you? Since then I have achieved bankai."

"Bankai. Hardly enough to cause an ordinary arrancar to panic let alone an Espada. You must have not heard that we are under the superior lord Aizen and have been granted exceptional powers from him once we remove our hollow mask. It's nothing compared to a soul reapers 'bankai'." Ulquiorra stated. Daren stuck his sword into the sand and shouted.

"Bankai!"


	43. Chapter 43

Nina sat on her bed staring up at the crescent shaped moon that lit Hueco Mundo. "When is he going to come back?" She wondered. She was at the point where she grew slightly worried but she figured that Aizen was just having a longer meeting this time. Nina sighed as each passing second felt like hours but then decided to get up and walk around Las Noches to try to pass the time. Upon leaving her room she noticed a few of the Espada walking around. Seems like their meeting has ended. Starrk came walking in her direction eyeing Nina before continuing to walk past her.

"Starrk." Nina called turning to his direction. He stopped and faced her.

"Hm?" He grunted lazily. Nina hesitated for a moment.

"Uh, how long ago was your meeting over?"

"Mm, bout half hour ago. Maybe longer." He slowly thought. "Why?"

"Nothing really. It's just that Ulquiorra hasn't returned yet. Do you know what could have happened to him?"

"I think lord Aizen gave him something to do. I don't know what, I wasn't really paying attention during our whole meeting. It kinda bored me."

"Oh." Nina said looking down. "Well, I'll go ask Aizen myself. Thanks for your help."

"Don't mention it." Starrk said.

Nina turned back around and headed for the meeting chamber to see if she could still catch Aizen there or either Gin or Tousen. Once she got there she figured that there was no one in there since when she opened the door she discovered that none of the lights where on. She sighed in disappointment and closed the door and headed back to her room but suddenly a voice startled her.

"Wandering around by yourself aren't we my pet?" Nnoitora said from directly above her as he leaned one arm against the wall by her.

"Nnoitora." Nina stuttered. "Where's Ulquiorra and what has Aizen done with him?"

"Lord Aizen is in his private chambers. As for Ulquiorra..." His toothy grin grew much wider. "He was given the order to exterminate that little pest running around in Hueco Mundo." Nnoitora chuckled a bit and Nina frowned. "Apparently this so called 'soul reaper' is someone you may hold near and dear to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's someone you know, or, at least you thought you did... Also, he's kinda powerful; may even turn out killing Ulquiorra, if he's not careful." Nnoitora toyed then started walking away while laughing. Nina stood there in a panic minutes after Nnoitora had left her. Ulquiorra, dying? She couldn't bear that thought as she cupped one hand over her mouth and the other against the wall.

"No. He can't die... not yet." She closed her eyes fighting against her tears. "I still haven't told him that I love him yet." Nina sobbed for a very short moment but soon lifted her head and dropped both her hands at her side. She knew what needed to be done. She made up her mind that she was going to go out into Hueco Mundo and do whatever it takes to find Ulquiorra and tell him for herself (if she didn't tell him, she would never forgive herself), but Hueco Mundo was so large, Nina could only hope that she could make it to his side in time. Nina paced towards a door and stopped before it before she dared to open it. "I'll do whatever it takes so he at least knows." She thought before opening up the door, then she stepped out into the darkness of the desert. The sand was soft under her feet like she had remembered it but she paid little attention the feeling as her mind was fully set on finding Ulquiorra. As Nina walked away from Las Noches, she pondered the words that Nnoitora had spoken to her and grew more curious now more than ever about who this soul reaper would be.

 _"_ _Hanataro." Nina called not being able to see him behind the hollow elephant's body. It lifted up it front legs again. "Hanataro." Nina screamed squeezing her eyes shut before the legs came crashing down towards her but was blocked by something that left a clank sound. When Nina opened her eyes she seen Hanataro in the form of a soul reaper wielding his own Zanpakuto._

 _..._

 _They never said anything since Hanataro showed his soul reaper form._ _She couldn't believe that her best friend had been lying to her for so long about who he really was._

Nina gasped upon her recollection and Hanataro's name escaped from her lips. It couldn't be Hanataro, could it? When would he have ever figured out that she was in Hueco Mundo and what did Nnoitora say when he mentioned that it **could** be someone near and dear to her? No. It couldn't be him. Nnoitora also had mentioned that whoever this intruder was is strong enough to kill Ulquiorra and Nina remembered Hanataro saying that he was a medical soul reaper and also wasn't very powerful.

 _"_ _I graduated from Soul school near the top of my class. I had a very hard time wielding a Zanpakuto so I was advised into taking medical training so that I can heal others. Souls who wish to become soul reapers go to Soul school to hopefully be good enough to enter the 13 court guard squads. Because I specialized in the medical area, I was able to gain 7_ _th_ _seat in squad four."_

This put her mind at ease for the moment and she continued on her way to Ulquiorra's side. Still there was a very slim possibility that it could be Hanataro since he lied to her about his identity. It could be possible that he was hiding his full power from her. Nina kept on saying that Hanataro was a medical soul reaper in order to remind himself that it couldn't be him fighting. Listening closely, fighting could be heard in the distance so she directed her steps towards the source of the noise.

"Ulquiorra." Nina breathed. "Please don't get hurt."


	44. Chapter 44

Nina could see Ulquiorra facing away from her as she had climbed a cliff but still had a ways to go if she wanted to be by his side. She decided to stay out of attacks reach safely on top of the cliff as she looked down towards Ulquiorra. Nina gasped upon seeing his drawn sword, it was the first time that she had seen him in a serious battle. His opponent that was a soul reaper has now taken the form of a wingless dragon with the power of his bankai making it impossible for Nina to figure out who the foe really was. Lightning bolts came down from the sky and struck this beastly figure as he laughed madly.

"Yes, yes." Daren said as he absorbed the power of lightning. Nina's eyes widened as she gazed at the scaly beast. Ulquiorra appeared to be the size of a rodent compared to this bankai form. Ulquiorra jumped off of the ground towards the beast with his sword ahead of him and began to attack the head but in this form, despite the size, Daren was very fast. As Ulquiorra moved around, Nina noticed something on him; at the base of his throat was a hole that went directly through him. Her eyes grew even wider upon seeing this as if she had finally realized that he was not human therefore he had no heart. Never before has he revealed this to her almost like he was ashamed to be an arrancar. Something else that Nina hadn't noticed, a number four was tattooed on the left side of his chest, right over where his heart would be, symbolizing his rank of cuatro Espada.

"Your attacks are useless. You cannot defeat me." Daren shouted. Ulquiorra landed a ways away from the beast and lowered his Zanpakuto wielding right hand and stood up straight. "What's the matter, are you giving up?"

"Tozase." He said calmly. The area around him closed off with a visible sphere of black spiritual pressure making it impossible to see what he was doing. Nina gasped upon seeing this but she looked up soon after noticing that it was literally raining reishi that shot out of Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure. Two bat like wings forced themselves out of the sides of the sphere cracking it open revealing Ulquiorra's released form. Nina stood astonished at Ulquiorra's altered appearance. His raven hair had lengthened, bat wings unfolded themselves from his back that where metres in length each. His hollow mask was no longer on just the one side of his head. It covered both sides and his horns reached out from four corners. His tear marks have turned a very dark grey colour and thickened themselves across his cheeks.

"Ulqui...orra?" Nina whispered. This appearance overwhelmed her to the point where she had to close her eyes. This form, he had it all along and he never so much as mentioned it to her. Why did he hid this power?

"Ha ha ha! I bet that she's never seen this side of you before. Am I right?" Daren's voice echoed.

"I've never shown it to her. If she where to see me like this, she would think that I am a monster." Ulquiorra stated.

"No." Nina quietly to herself looking back down at him. "No I don't."

"Monster? Please that's an understatement. A demon is more like it." Daren started. Ulquiorra looked at him his eyes showing a hint of anger. "I mean look at you. You've got the black wings, the horns, the face that would make children and their mothers cry."

"Don't listen to him." Nina thought to herself.

"I honestly don't know why Nina has chosen to hang around you for so long. She must feel sorry for you. She figures that no one would love a beast so she's decided to show you some sympathy. Her feelings must be all lies."

"Lies. No. She as taught me what a heart is and what it feels. The way I understand it is only someone with a heart as pure as hers could tell me the truth of a heart. Her heart. I may not have one but it is through her that I understand when a heart is being honest and when its feeling is sincere. Because of her heart, she has shown me where my heart lies, and that I am able to understand a human heart." Ulquiorra spoke.

"Lies." Daren yelled.

"Don't listen to him Ulquiorra." Nina shouted. Ulquiorra turned his head up to face her. His eyes widened upon seeing her there.

"Nina." He whispered. "What are you doing here?" Nina smiled.

"Ulquiorra, I love—" Nina started but Daren shot a bakudo spell at her.

"Bakudo number 62, hyapporankan." Purple spears came out from Daren's spiritual pressure planting Nina against an invisible wall in the sky making it unable for her to move.

"What did you do to her?" Ulquiorra asked firmly.

"I just disabled any movement from her so that she doesn't interfere with our fight. Don't worry, she is safe... for now." Daren explained. Ulquiorra's eyes glared and felt his lips tighten. Instead of saying anything, he summoned a javelin made out of green energy and ran it into Daren's right arm causing his scream to echo throughout Hueco Mundo.

"D***."

"Let Nina go." Ulquiorra called out. Daren lifted his left claw and put it over his newly opened wound panting from the blood loss. Nina tried to call out for Ulquiorra but the force of the bakudo was so great it rendered her unable to speak. Ulquiorra looked into Nina's eyes from afar and for the first time she could see sorrow in them. Even if she was able to speak, the look in his eyes was so heartbreaking for her she didn't even notice a tear falling down her cheek. Upon him seeing this, he grew even sadder.

"No, don't listen to him." Nina thought trying to say out loud. "Please don't. He's lying. Just don't listen to him." Nina tried to shout out to him but was unable to move her mouth or even make a sound come out of it. Ulquiorra turned his head away from her and looked over to Daren and was ready to end this game.

"I'm sorry, Nina. By following lord Aizen's orders I will kill your brother. If I cause you any more pain then I will make it so that I never be able to again. If it means that you'll be happy without me here then so be it."

"Ulquiorra." Nina shouted. "I love you, Ulquiorra." Ulquiorra gasped upon hearing this and forgot about his fight with Daren. "Don't you ever listen to him. You've made me so happy, I can never thank you enough for all you've done." Ulquiorra's eyes widened to the point to where they could not open any farther and his emerald eyes shone magnificently in the moonlight. He wanted to say something back to her but for once he stood speechless. "I love you with all my heart. I don't want you to ever leave me." Nina smiled. Ulquiorra lifted up his one hand and extended it towards Nina. Her teary smile grew as she too reached out for him even though it was impossible to touch him at that distance. Nina gasped upon seeing the soul reaper stab Ulquiorra from behind right into his heart.

"Ulquiorra!" Nina shouted at the top of her lungs. Ulquiorra struggled to look down at the blade that went through the left side of his chest. The dragon had transformed out of his beast form and back into the form of a soul reaper. Nina's bewildered gaze turned into a scowl upon seeing who was this mysterious soul reaper. "Daren... you b******." Daren stood there laughing for a moment as Ulquiorra fell to his knees.


	45. Chapter 45

Her teary smile grew as she too reached out for him even though it was impossible to touch him at that distance. Nina gasped upon seeing the soul reaper stab Ulquiorra from behind right into his heart.

"Ulquiorra!" Nina shouted at the top of her lungs. Ulquiorra struggled to look down at the blade that went through the left side of his chest. The dragon had transformed out of his beast form and back into the form of a soul reaper. Nina's bewildered gaze turned into a scowl upon seeing who this mysterious soul reaper was. "Daren... you b******." Daren stood there laughing for a moment as Ulquiorra fell to his knees.

"Nina... I must... protect." Ulquiorra struggled to say but only Daren could hear him say that.

"Ulquiorra." Nina called out again. Daren slowly paced himself over to Nina.

"Nina, run... please. He's come to harm you." Ulquiorra tried to shout but it wasn't very loud.

"I won't leave you." Nina said. Daren stopped as he was right under the cliff she was resting on and was getting ready to punch it hopefully to bring Nina down to him but before he could do that, Ulquiorra opened up a garganta from right underneath her causing her to instantly fall through and he sealed it up before Daren could get to it. Daren looked over his shoulder at Ulquiorra and was about to shoot a hado spell at him but instead what he seen surprised him. Ulquiorra was standing on his feet with blood pouring out of his wound and his appearance had altered yet again.

"What, how are you not dead?" Daren questioned while staring at Ulquiorra's new figure. Ulquiorra had grown a very long tail that was easily two times his height. It was bushy where it came down and out his lower back but was thin for almost the rest until the very tip was slightly bushy as well. His mask had changed into two horns that came out from both sides of his head. They looked like the horns that were like they were from the devil. His whole lower section from his hips down was covered in black fur down to his feet that were like demons claws. His hollow hole had shifted from the base of his throat down to the middle of his chest. Black lines were on it making it an illusion of a bleeding heart that fell down his chest and blended into his fur. His arms were also furry down to the hands. His fingers where very long with sharp nails on them longer than any human fingers. He looked very slender in this forum with his chest muscles ripping out and his skin stuck to his ribcage giving him a more fearsome appearance. His hair had lengthened down to his back from where his wings sprung out from. His eyes where no longer green. His iris was a vampiric yellow colour that was accented against the green of his sclera. His 'tears' that fell down from his cheek where very thick and split into two 'streams'. His whole appearance was terrifying.

"Why would I be dead when you stab me in the heart that is not there?"

"What are you talking about." Daren questioned.

"My heart does not lie within my chest like it does for you. My heart is elsewhere." Ulquiorra began. "Nina has my heart. She said so herself that I have a heart. As long as she has it, I am safe. As long as she lives, I'll live. When she is happy... I'm happy. My heart lies with her."

"That's bull****. It's impossible to have a heart that is completely disconnected from the body. It is simply inexistent."

"That may be true but she has made it so being the kind of girl that she is. I will protect her by killing you who wishes harm upon her." Ulquiorra said summoning another javelin made from green energy and pointed a finger at Daren and blasted a blackened green cero in his direction. As the cero was heading for Daren, Ulquiorra followed close behind it but far enough so that the blast wouldn't hurt him. After he blocked the cero, he failed to block the javelin that Ulquiorra had swung just after. Ulquiorra used sonido to move so fast that he was virtually invisible to an ordinary eye and attacked all around giving Daren no time to think.

"D***it." Daren said wiping blood from the corner of his mouth as his body was becoming a bloody mess. Ulquiorra decided to slow down a little in order to answer a question that he had. Daren slammed his sword into the sand and a barrage of lightning bolts came down and struck almost every inch of their battle zone. Being the quick thinker that he is, Ulquiorra knew he had no chance of dodging these lightning bolts so he planted his feet on the ground so that the path of electricity would flow straight through him to the ground to minimize the damage. After being struck, one of his knees collapsed bringing it to the ground. "Heh." Ulquiorra panted for a while then noticed Daren walking towards him with a wicked grin. Daren pointed his sword right at Ulquiorra almost touching his pale skin. Ulquiorra did not flinch.

"Why haven't you drawn your bankai?" Ulquiorra asked. Daren's smirk fell to a frown and said nothing. "Is it because you cannot bring it out again." Daren's frown greyed to a grimace. "I see... You have not yet perfected your bankai. You thought that I would be dead after you stabbing me in the chest so you retracted then and wasted all your efforts of bankai for nothing." Ulquiorra paused. "It appears that you don't have a chance."

"Shut up." Daren shouted swinging his sword cutting off Ulquiorra's left arm. He cringed at the pain although he tried desperately to hide it. Naturally, Daren laughed. "Not so tough now, are ya batman? ...Huh?" Daren stopped laughing upon seeing Ulquiorra's arm regenerate itself as if it were never cut in the first place. Daren's gasp was very shaky. "What the h*** are you?" Ulquiorra stood back up on his two claw-like feet.

"Espada number four, Ulquiorra Schiffer." Daren lowered his sword slightly and his teeth grinded as his eyes squeezed shut. His sword shook in his hand from a white knuckled grip.

"I can't believe that she has fallen in love with an Espada. What would mother think of this? Have I failed as a brother? No... If I don't get her back I've failed as a warrior. I need her to gain power." Daren began breathing heavier and heavier before shouting. "I'll kill you." Daren shouted before running at Ulquiorra with his sword. Ulquiorra used his sonido to move behind Daren then stabbed him through the stomach. Daren put his hands pressure over his wound to stop the bleeding after he fell to his knees.

"You've lost a lot of spiritual pressure. There's not much more you can do. I'm afraid that without mastering your bankai, you've drained so much of your energy that you cannot defend yourself." Daren frowned and thrust his Zanpakuto at Ulquiorra but he swatted it away with his own forcing it out of its masters hands and landed metres away from the two. Daren panted heavily struggling to lift his gaze up to Ulquiorra. "Lord Aizen has commanded me to kill you because to him you are an intruder to Hueco Mundo. More importantly, you wish harm upon Nina and are a threat to her existence."

"How do you plan on killing me?"

"I'll do to you what you did to me." Ulquiorra stated then he stabbed his sword into Daren's heart. "Stab you in the heart. Your heart only lies in your chest. It belongs... to no one." Ulquiorra took his Zanpakuto out of the heart and Daren collapsed onto the sand with the shine of life fading from his dark brown eyes. Ulquiorra paused for a moment and reflected on the battle he just endured and the image of Nina expressing her love for him would not leave his mind. Nina did love him then but could she love him after he has taken the life of her brother and how was he to respond? He allowed a garganta to open back up behind him and soon after clearing his head, Nina walked through completely unharmed. Nina was a little confused upon seeing this 'monster' that was standing so calmly before her but there was no doubt in her mind that it was Ulquiorra for in front of him lay the body of her brother.

"Ulquiorra." Nina whispered while holding her breath. Ulquiorra lowered his head before he partially turned to look into her eyes with regret that reflected in his. She tried not to change her expression upon seeing his altered yellow eyes but Ulquiorra slowly changed them back to his emerald green. He did not say anything as he looked at her but he couldn't stand seeing the saddened expression in her eyes so he looked down. "Are you alright?" She asked gently. At first Ulquiorra said nothing and kept his gaze focused on the ground. Nina cautiously walked over to him then put a hand on his cheek and caressed it as she looked into his apologetic eyes. She was surprised that he would let her do this but she was even more surprised once he looked at her.

"I should ask you that. After all, I've taken the life of your brother." He said slowly.

"You said he has come to harm me. You didn't have a choice." Nina supported but Ulquiorra did not remark on that comment.

"At the end, when he realized that he had lost, he showed some regret as he questioned himself. He asked himself if he had failed as a brother." Ulquiorra returned his gaze to Nina's eyes. She gasped.

"All this time I thought that he never cared about me, but I was wrong." Nina's eyes closed and a tear came out of the corner. Ulquiorra hesitated for a moment then lowered his wings.

"I am sorry...Nina."


	46. Chapter 46

The sun was nearing the point where it was to fall behind the mountains in the distance. Nina placed down a small bouquet of lilies of the valley down at Daren's grave that had been freshly filled in. Ulquiorra stood beside her and they both looked down at the tombstone that was by itself on a shady hillside. Since they arrived there, no words were spoken between the two, each of them felt apprehension towards one another.

"Nina." Ichigo said from behind the two. Ichigo, Uryuu, Chad, Orihime, Rukia, Yumichika, Ikkaku, Shinji, Renji, Rangiku and Toshiro all joined to pay their respects but mostly to support Nina. Nina and Ulquiorra turned around to face the group. "We're all gonna head out now. We figure that you want some time alone or something. Anyway, we're sorry for your loss." Everyone behind Ichigo either nodded or had a sincere look on their face after what Ichigo said. Nina forced a smile on her face. For a fake one it was sure convincing.

"Thank you, Ichigo, and everyone." Nina said quietly. Ichigo and a few others waved once before turning around and leaving. Nina noticed that Orihime turned back and winked to her and knew exactly what it meant. Once the group was out of sight, the two of them returned their gaze to the grave. Nina could sense that Ulquiorra too was feeling sorrow for her loss. Despite her relationship with her brother, she was saddened. Anytime a human being loses their life is a moment of sadness and despair no matter what the relationship is with that person. Nina breathed in heavily once then looked at Ulquiorra. It took him a while to notice her but he eventually looked back into her eyes.

"Do you still love me, Nina?" Ulquiorra asked gently. A shiver went down her spine when he said her name. Nina's heart slightly broke upon remembering that he never answered if he felt the same, in fact, he never mentioned it at all until now.

"Yes." She responded with a nod. "With all my heart. Nothing can change that." Ulquiorra went silent as he looked out to the horizon taking his eyes off of hers.

"When I'm around you, I feel... different." He started after his silence. "My hollow hole gets warm." Nina stared at the spot where his hole would be but since he was in his hekikon, it wasn't there. "When I'm not with you, it's cold. I want it to be warm." Nina gasped silently and she could feel her eyes widen. Ulquiorra turned his body to her and Nina looked into his enchanting emerald eyes. "I know where my heart is. I know now without a doubt." Ulquiorra lifted one if his hands and ran his fingers through Nina's brown hair. "My heart lies with you." Nina's eyes grew yet again and her heart rapidly pounded against her chest. "I love you, Nina." Those whispered words finally escaped from his lips. No words were a sweeter sound to Nina's ears. His eyes looked into hers very gently and tenderly before he took her head softly between his two hands and slowly brought her closer to him. He stopped allowing Nina to come the rest of her way on her own until their lips lightly met. Until now, she had always expected his lips to be cold but today she found out that she was wrong. Nina wrapped both of her arms around his neck feeling his soft lips against hers. Her eyes stayed closed the whole time but Ulquiorra's where partly open to study her expression. They broke apart upon hearing something large moving in the bushes near them.

"What was that?" Nina asked just before they went over to the bushes to investigate. Ulquiorra parted two bushes and on the ground they found a beautiful bouquet of purple lilac and baby's breath then she picked them up. "Oh no." Nina said out loud.

"What is it?"

"It's Hanataro." She said. "I have to go find him." Ulquiorra waited as Nina ran off into the meadow in search of her dear friend calling his name until she found him sitting by a creek dressed in a handsome navy suit. "Hanataro?" She said from behind him stepping closer to him holding the bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"So you've found someone that you love." He said quietly.

"I'm sorry Hanataro."

"I loved you Nina. We're best friends. Why did you choose him?"

"I love him." She said then it went quiet for a while. "Hanataro, you're my best friend and you always will be. You have so much to be thankful for. Ulquiorra had no one. It was almost like he needed me to show him how to love. You are amazing, any girl would be insane to turn down a guy like you."

"Including you?" He asked. Nina sighed then nodded.

"Yes, including me." She said. "You'll find your one true love someday. Just be patient. She is out there looking for you." Hanataro smiled upon hearing this and seconds later he got up to face her.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry if I made you feel guilty." He said. Nina smiled then walked up to kiss him on the cheek. After she held out her hand.

"Come on, let's go put these flowers in water." Hanataro took her hand and they walked out of the meadow while holding hands. Hanataro's smile faded upon seeing Ulquiorra waiting for them on the hill in the sunset and nervously let go of Nina's hand. She smiled at Ulquiorra letting him know that everything was alright. "I'll be right back. You two wait for me here. I won't be long." Nina said just before turning around and walking away.

Ulquiorra and Hanataro stood quietly and awkwardly and watched the sunset as they waited for Nina to return. Ulquiorra occasionally shifted his gaze over to the delicate boy but returned his gaze to the horizon. Hanataro was too afraid to look at Ulquiorra.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Ulquiorra started. Hanataro nodded. "Nina's very special. She deserves the best and I'm afraid that I'm not all that so she needs others in her life. She needs a good friend." Ulquiorra said then he looked down to Hanataro without moving his head. "She's very lucky to have a friend like you." Hanataro gasped upon hearing this come from Ulquiorra.

"Do you really think so?" Ulquiorra nodded.

"I want Nina to be happy and you seem to bring pleasure into her life." Ulquiorra said. Hanataro smiled sheepishly then looked over his shoulder upon hearing Nina.

"I'm back." She sang. "Did you two have fun while I was gone?" Hanataro took a breath hesitating to answer but he didn't need to.

"Yes." Ulquiorra responded in his monotone voice. "I think we've cleared everything up." Nina smiled before grabbing Hanataro with her left hand then Ulquiorra with her right then they all walked away. As they walked down the hill she looked at Ulquiorra as she swore that she heard him say 'don't tell lord Aizen of these feelings.'


End file.
